The First-Year Leadership Challenge is a co-curricular experience offered during the month of January that prompts students to identify their leadership strengths and position themselves for success at BSC. The challenge introduces leadership practices and commitments relevant for campus involvement. A joint effort between the Office of Student Development and the Krulak Institute, the Challenge combines activities with reflective self-assessments.

The Challenge does not have homework and meets from 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays during E-Term.

How do I participate in the Challenge?

Faculty, staff, and upper class students nominate first-year students to participate. Sign-up begins following E-Term registration in mid-November. Nominees and all those interested complete a short online registration form available on ENGAGE. Ask a professor to nominate you if you would like to participate.

The Hess Fellows Program matches students with nonprofit agencies for intensive summer internships. The internships focus on either advocacy or poverty, and are open to students in their second and third years of study at the College. Students in these internships participate as full members of their assigned agencies. Advocacy interns help build organizational capacity by conducting research, facilitating coalitions, leading community outreach programs, organizing lobbying efforts, and coordinating grassroots campaigns. Anti-poverty interns learn about the multiple dimensions of poverty through a variety of projects that strengthen impoverished communities across the country. Anti-poverty internships are made possible through a partnership with the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP), a consortium of more than 20 schools with programs focused on understanding and ending poverty.

How do I apply for the Hess Fellows program?

Applications for both Advocacy and Poverty Internships are due in mid-November. Applications and other information can be found on ENGAGE. Students may apply for both Advocacy and Poverty Internships but will only be selected for one. More information on both types of internships can be found below.

Advocacy Internships

• Receive a stipend to offset the cost of living expenses during the internship
• Are responsible for finding and paying for their own housing arrangements
• Participate in pre-departure and post-internship workshops on the BSC campus, as well as public events with donors and other program supporters throughout the year

Anti-Poverty Internships

• Receive a modest living allowance (provided by SHECP)
• Live with and learn from other Poverty interns from across the country in housing arranged and funded by SHECP
• Participate in pre-departure and post-internship workshops on the BSC campus, as well as public events with donors and other program supporters throughout the year
• Attend two-day opening and closing conferences at a location off the BSC campus. Transportation costs from opening conference to the internship site and from the site to the closing conference are covered by SHECP

Leadership studies designated courses support the Distinction in Leadership Studies program. Faculty can develop and offer leadership studies designated courses in any discipline. If you are interested in developing a course, please contact the director of the Distinction in Leadership Studies Program.

How do I develop a leadership studies designated course?

• Identify a course. Think about a new or existing course that you would like to have incorporate leadership and leadership questions. Build on your own expertise and consider how your work might overlap with leadership issues and topics. Designated courses assist students in thinking about leadership from different disciplines.
• Apply for funding. The Krulak Institute offers course development summer stipends for the development of leadership studies courses. If you would like support in reading and researching about leadership in your area, you can access funding through the summer stipend program. The provost office sends requests for proposals each spring.
• Address leadership. Designated courses should address leadership in some way. Keep in mind that conceptions of leadership can vary. It can refer to: individual leaders and their influence on followers; a social process involving multiple actors and groups; a formal position occupied by various individuals; or the instigation and mobilization of change. Your course need not adhere to any specific orientation.
• Develop an assignment. Require DLS students to complete an assignment or project related to the study or practice of leadership. For example, all students might complete an assignment related to the leadership; DLS program students might complete a modified assignment for the course that addresses leadership; or DLS students might complete an additional assignment that addresses leadership.
• Tell students. Indicate on your syllabus and in the course catalog that the course can be used to fulfill requirements in the Distinction in Leadership Studies Program. Doing so will help students see the relationship between your course and other courses that address leadership.