Welcome New Fellows!

On Sunday morning, we welcomed 28 new members into the Shucker Leadership Institute! After a long processes of individual interviews, group interviews, and many difficult decisions, I have no doubt that the 28 new fellows will bring wonderful qualities to the Shucker Leadership Institute.

New Shucker Fellows!

While we welcomed these excited new freshmen into the institution, we also celebrated the accomplishments and success of the class 7 and class 6 Shucker fellows as they graduated from the program. After much discussion and planning, Student Director Bianca Forte led the Shucker Lead Team to the conclusion that the program would be most successful as a two year program for freshmen and sophomore fellows. Therefore, we celebrated the junior and senior Shucker fellows as they graduated from the Leadership Institute on Sunday.

Shucker Graduates

As a part of the celebration, we were able to introduce the new freshmen to the program, hear some words of wisdom from a few of the Shucker graduates, describe a few of the sophomore passion projects, eat a delicious brunch, and participate in a raffle for some Shucker spirit wear!

Sophomore Fellows

We had the privilege of hearing  from senior graduates Austin Charles and Natalia Arenas, and junior graduates Bridget Lorenz and Brian Buehler. It was amazing to hear about the impact SLI has on the lives of these four graduates from the program. From hearing stories of the freshmen retreat three years ago, to drinking coffee in the Shucker office, to displaying leadership skills through other organizations on campus, it is clear that SLI impacts the lives of students in many positive ways. Hearing the stories from the juniors and seniors inspired the freshmen new fellows to make the most of their Shucker experience.

After eating a delicious brunch of orange French toast, fresh fruit, cheese grits, and egg casserole, we had a fun time giving away Shucker water bottles, t-shirts, and coffee mugs through a raffle. We also introduced our new t-shirts for the year with the theme of Dr. Seuss. The t-shirts read:

"You're off to great places,

Today is your day,

Your mountain is waiting,

So get on your way!"

-Dr. Seuss

The T-shirts were a perfect way to celebrate the success of the graduates and wish them luck in the future, as well as welcome the freshmen to an exciting future ahead of them with Shucker.

Shucker Fellows and Graduates

The sophomore fellows are busy working and planning their passion projects for the school year. The freshmen are excited about an upcoming retreat this weekend as well as the beginning of weekly meetings for leadership development! I can already tell that the Shucker has a lot to offer the fellows this year!