Spectrum Leadership Retreat

During the weekend of Oct. 28-29, a group of about 14 NEIU students (myself included) traveled to the Stronghold Retreat Center in Oregon, Ill for the Spectrum Leadership Retreat; this year the themes were multi-culturalism and social justice. The group met at the NEIU main campus and took a two-hour bus ride to Oregon, unaware of what was to come. As we arrived, we engaged in a couple of icebreakers and then we were instructed to cook our own food—which ended up being one of our community building/bonding activities. Through cooking and cleaning up for one another, we began to know each other more personally. One of our other activities was reading a Dr. Seuss story and then analyzing ways by which storytelling can be a form of activism, as well as seeing how it applies to today’s society in a more general sense. Next, we watched a short clip of an autobiography of an important figure in Spanish history and proceeded to analyze the significance of the activism and resistance we saw. After a long day of socializing and bonding, we were free to retire for the night in preparation for the early day ahead. As early as 8 a.m., we all got up to eat breakfast, since we had a long day of activities ahead that would have us share personal experiences. Some of these would include revealing and realizing things about ourselves and others in order to become more effective leaders. One of the most successful activities of the entire retreat was making our own Leadership Map, which was done by using good old-fashioned markers, glue, scissors and magazines to make collages. The purpose of this was to see how each individual came to want to become a leader through their own stories and reflections. Furthermore, we came to the identity portion of the retreat, where we had to define and identify with various core identities to get a better understanding of our privileges and disadvantages. After this, we had a guest speaker, Derrick Gunter, M.Ed., from the Achieving College Excellence Program at Loyola University Chicago, to lead us into a very interactive discussion about conflicting identity. At the end of the retreat, the students all felt like they had gained something socially and personally valuable from participating in such a thought- provoking event. One anonymous participant spoke to me about how eye-opening this experience was for her. “Before this retreat, I was aware of elite systems in place but I was really confused in my role in all of that,” she said. “Now I have a better idea of what others experience. This will add to the humanity part of my leadership training.” As for myself, I feel like it was very well put together, educational and a thoroughly enriching experience that made me feel connected to all who participated during this trip. The L.E.A.D. program welcomes students to participate in the various events they hold throughout the year. For more information, contact Veronica Rodriguez at V-Rodriguez9@neiu.edu.