HSU Hosts and Hostesses

Leadership Studies Program students represent the HSU student body at a variety of university events. A group of leadership students serve as the official hosts and hostesses of the university.

Leadership Late Nights

To get to know other students in the program better and to practice leadership and teamwork skills, leadership students gather one night each month for an applied leadership activity.

One of these projects involved acting out the story of Nebuchadnezzar and his dream of the great statue from the second chapter of the book of Daniel. Students met in the theater and were then broken into two groups. They had little more than one hour to develop and act out their plays. Students chose costumes and props and performed their play in front of their classmates and several theater majors--who critiqued the performances.

An Abilene Road Rally took teams of students around town looking for locations described on 25 clues. Teams had to match the time of the rallymaster and decide whether to use easy or hard clues to get them to the next location. Time bonuses and penalties were assigned to teams depending on which clues they used and whether they needed help to complete the rally.

The Spring 2007 semester saw the advent of the first campus treasure hunt. An object was placed somewhere on campus "in plain sight" by the program director. Students had to work in teams throughout the semester solving clues to find the location and identity of the "treasure."

Book Club

To stay on top of the latest ideas in the leadership field, leadership studies students meet twice a month to discuss popular leadership books. The club is voluntary and meets in the Leadership Studies Program conference room. Students select the books and lead the discussions.

Apprentice Projects

Drawing on the concept of the hit NBC television series, "The Apprentice," leadership students enrolled in the Creating Profit and Non-Profit Ventures class got to tackle solving real organizational problems. During the semester, student groups were assigned four projects from four different organizations--two for-profit businesses and two non-profit organizations. Students had three to four weeks to complete their projects and present them to the heads of the organizations.

For one project, groups developed a Christmas display for a local business at Abilene State School's Christmas Lane. Groups had to create budgets and models of their displays. In another project, students wrote four-week chapel lessons for a local daycare and preschool. Developing a marketing plan for the Boy Scouts' local ropes course (which the students got to experience) made up the third project. The final project involved market research and an assessment of feasibility for a local business to expand into a new service line.

Through these projects, leadership students got to solve real organizational problems and make presentations to actual business owners and organizational leaders. In the process, students also developed leadership and teamwork skills. This project was featured in the HSU Brand and received and 2.5 minute news feature on the local NBC evening news.

Service Projects

Students in the Service Learning Workshop course created "Lone Star City." This miniature city is made up of ten businesses that conduct business and exchange goods and services over the course of a "day." The city is portable, which allows leadership students to take the project to local after-school children's programs. Through their participation, children learn about the roles and reponsibilities of working in businesses and they gain money-handling, economics, and customer relations skills. Leadership students secured donations from Cintas, Blue Bell Ice Cream, Home Depot, Chick-fil-a, SIFE, UPS, Citizens Bank, and Walmart (who gave us $450 in grant money). This project was featured on a front-page story in the Abilene Reporter-News and on the local CBS and NBC evening news programs.

First-semester leadership students enrolled in the Foundations of Leadership Studies course quickly began developing their leadershp and teamwork skills by organizing and executing a host of service projects for people in the community. One group led children through series of workshops on fitness, nutrition, and personal hygiene and another established a math tutoring program for nearby elementary school students. Other groups led Bible studies with area children and youth, led a voter registration drive, and organized a Halloween "Pumpkin Glow" fundraiser for an area elementary school--with more than 300 participants.

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE)

Because of their dual emphases on leadership development and service, Leadership Studies Program students are able to reap the benefits of the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization with their service projects. SIFE is present on more than 1,800 campuses around the world and is dedicated to teaching people the skills and competencies needed to succeed in the business world.

The HSU SIFE team has performed hundreds of projects (e.g., computer training, financial seminars, ethics lectureships, eight television shows, newspaper columns, coloring books, entrepreneurship projects, speakers, international projects, Bible studies, etc.) to dozens of groups of people in and around Abilene since 1999. Team projects have been featured on local television news broadcasts, on various radio stations, and in the Abilene Reporter-News.

In the Spring of each year, SIFE teams compete in regional and national competitions--where they describe to judges from area businesses and SIFE-sponsor companies what they have accomplished over the year. Judges rate how effective teams were in their projects.

The HSU SIFE team has an outstanding record of success--winning regional champion in all seven years of existence and awards at national competitions in four different years. In the 2005-2006 school year, the HSU SIFE team received $8,200 in prize and grant money (HSU SIFE was able to contribute $5,000 toward a scholarship in memory of a long-time HSU faculty member).

SIFE is sponsored by more than 160 corporations--who actively recruit SIFE students for jobs and internships. There are no dues to be a SIFE member at HSU (the team is supported through prize and grant money). Being a SIFE team member allows students to participate in SIFE Career and Job Fairs--both in person and on-line.