Karlos Santos-Coy, program adviser of clubs and organizations for Student Organizations and Leadership, said leadership is more than just a title or position.

He said it is a set of skills for success that every student is capable of acquiring.

To promote leadership among students at Sacramento State, the office is heading a new program called the Leadership Recognition Program.

According to the Sac State website, this program encourages student engagement and development by introducing students to a number of involvement opportunities, events and workshops.

The office of Student Organizations and Leadership, formerly known as Student Affairs, promotes leadership among students by providing students with the necessary tools to develop their own set of leadership skills.

“Our goal was not to create events but to recognize that different areas of this campus are already developing leadership for students,” Santos-Coy said.

Santos-Coy said although the Student Organizations and Leadership’s goal was not to create events, they do build programs that support the leadership roles already in place.

“We have two leadership conferences a year, workshops throughout the semester, specific organizational leadership training for student club officers, “move-in day’ the residence halls, the summer EOP bridge class, as well as more specific trainings for Greek organizations,” Santos-Coy said.

Edward Jones, associate vice president for campus life, is another staff member devoted to promoting leadership success.

“We want to ensure that “leadership begins here’ becomes a reality for all of our students,” Jones said.

Leadership is very important for students’ success, both in and out of the classroom, Jones said.

He said students who participated in leadership activities had much better success rates after college than those who did not.

In January 2009, the Office of Institutional Research conducted a research analysis of Sac State students involved in leadership positions and compared their success rates with that of the standard campus community.

“This core group was compared to other students from the sample population and they had higher grade point averages, higher retention and persistence rates, even higher graduation rates,” Santos-Coy said.

The Leadership Recognition Program has designated a specific class to help students fulfill leadership roles in college.

Students who participate and pass this class are awarded with a Student Organizations and Leadership certificate, along with the class credit.

In this leadership class, the students are required to participate in eight campus events.Last semester, Beth Erickson, recreation, parks and tourism administration professor, led the first leadership class of 35 students.

“In offering this program to students at Sac State, what we are saying to them is that we care about them,” Erickson said. “We want the experience during their years at this learning institution to be meaningful where they can learn about diverse issues and populations, develop professionally and personally, engage civically through community service activities, organizations and clubs and where they create a community where they can belong.”

Two student orientation leaders, Vance Jarrard and David Barrie, have both experienced the benefits of being in a student leadership position.

Barrie, junior anthropology major, said being an orientation leader has helped him with communication skills.

He said he believes that the skills that he has acquired will help him in the field of anthropology, later in the future.

“Leadership teaches you a lot about yourself and others – how to meet and talk to people,” Barrie said.

Santos-Coy said he believes leaders have higher academic success rates because of social connections gained through leadership roles.

“By being connected socially it helps you want to do well in school – to stay here and develop. You are constantly making a connection to a career – to your future,” Santos-Coy said.

Jones agreed with Santos-Coy and believes leadership leads to a happier lifestyle and more prominent future.

“Leadership prepares you for life after school. It makes you well rounded; you can take the knowledge learned from classrooms and apply it to life,” Jones said.

Jones said the skills for developing leadership can be found in everyone. He said he believes in the underlying philosophy of the Student Organization and Leadership office – that everyone has the capacity to be a leader.

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