Undergraduate and graduate students, as well as alumni, came together recently to participate in the inaugural Annual Leadership Summit to help incoming students develop the right skills for future leadership aspirations, whether on campus or in their careers. Currently, UST has more than 80 student leaders on campus.

Director of Student Engagement and Leadership Shundeez Faridifar, ’19 MBA, sponsored the Student Leadership Council-initiated event designed to prepare students for leadership in the next school year.

Leadership Summit Mission

“UST’s Leadership Summit mission is to inspire and support students at UST to reach their full potential in their formation as leaders,” Faridifar said. “We exist because every Celt deserves an opportunity to gain practical skills that will provide a brighter future and personal growth.

“The summit creates leaders through a conference that builds a foundational framework for students to learn about themselves as leaders and gain tools to implement leadership practices in their lives.”

The day-long summit hosted multiple speakers and alumni panelists in order to present leadership from multiple angles. Leadership Council student Sofia Sanchez was in charge of the event.

Sanchez said, “It was important for us to give students an opportunity to hear from people they usually wouldn’t get a chance to hear from on this topic. For this reason, we invited faculty, staff, and administration from different areas on campus to give their perspectives on the important qualities of being a leader.” 

In order to accommodate as many people as possible and maintain COVID safety protocols, the event was offered hyflex with the speakers on Zoom. Everyone who wanted to was able to attend in person.

The event was well-received by students and faculty.

“…The Leadership Summit was the first of its kind in many aspects, but my favorite part is that it brought so many facets of campus together (i.e., students, faculty, staff and alumni) for the common purpose of becoming a better, BOLDER version of ourselves.” - Jerry A., senior

"I really enjoyed this event because it was student-organized. The students behind the scenes understand what it means to not only be a student, but also a leader, and they used that knowledge to cater to us." - Justin Gomez, sophomore

“Leadership is such a difficult role, and there are many effective strategies, so I think it's wonderful the students got to hear from such an excellent and diverse group of individuals. I talked about the use of 'academic coaching' in leadership roles. I hope I conveyed that listening generously and empowering your members/employees is a highly effective strategy in leadership.” – Dr. Shivas Amin, associate professor of Biology