Leadership Opportunities


Image: Orientation and Residential Education leaders

LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS & DEVELOPMENT

Hiram College and the Office of Campus Involvement provide a variety of opportunities for students to enhance their leadership skills and to empower them to assume roles in all forms of leadership on campus and beyond.

Our mission at Hiram College is to enable students of all ages to develop as intellectually alive, socially responsible, ethical citizens ready for leadership and for continuous personal and professional growth.

Do you want to make an impact at Hiram College through leadership and dedication? We select and guide Hiram’s leaders through a process called LAP (Leadership Application Process) to fill many leadership positions on campus.

Positions available include:

  • International Peer Assistant
  • Orientation Leader
  • Out of State Peer Assistant
  • Peer Mentor
  • Resident Assistant
  • Service Leader
  • Terrier Welcome Team
  • Welcome Center Staff Member

The LAP process happens in the spring semester and is coordinated through the Office of Campus Involvement. The process includes an online application, individual interviews, and group process.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP AWARDS

Each spring semester, the Office of Campus Involvement coordinates the annual Student Leadership Awards.  The Student Leadership Awards honor and celebrate the achievements of our student leaders, organizations, and advisors in the categories of Individual Leadership, Organization Awards, and Program Awards.  Honorees may self-apply or be nominated and are selected through a committee of staff members.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT LUNCHEONS

Student leadership development luncheons are offered and hosted by various staff at Hiram College.  These luncheons compliment a students co-curricular experience and help students develop invaluable skills such as communication, teamwork, awareness of self and others, ethical decision making, and many more life skills.

Hiram College has a variety of leadership positions for students who desire to make a difference on campus beyond the classroom and club memberships. Although students receive payment for LAP positions, the impact of their leadership can be seen in the classroom, the residence halls, and anywhere in between. However, leadership is not only being in a position of authority and having a title. Leadership is knowing also how to follow, how to work with a team, how to support others, and much more; being a leader is a responsibility.

The skills that you develop while in college will stay with you for a lifetime. Communication, decision making, and working with a team are just a few of the many skills that you will gain or sharpen by becoming a student leader. Employers find great value in employees with well developed problem solving, organizational, and planning skills. They also value character traits such as integrity, adaptability, and determination. Our Leadership positions are designed to complement and enhance your academic experiences while developing you in each of these areas.

Leadership can mean many things but for those involved in the Leadership Application Process it means fulfilling a role that serves others with purpose, commitment, and accountability. We also believe true leadership is the ability to apply ethical decision making to achieve personal and organization goals. As a leader you will be an integral part of the effort to meet the needs of the Hiram community.

If you are interested in taking that next step to becoming a member of our leadership team, check the information below for available opportunities and the application deadlines.

International Peer Assistant – GatrellNR@hiram.edu

Orientation Leader – stevensonan@hiram.edu

Out of State Peer Assistant – GatrellNR@hiram.edu

Peer Mentor – WestDE@hiram.edu

Resident Assistant – johnskm@hiram.edu

Service Leader – georgehs@hiram.edu

Terrier Welcome Team – WestDE@hiram.edu

Welcome Center Staff Member – BenjaminNL@hiram.edu

Inspired by Hiram College alumnus George Bellamy, who in 1896 founded one of the country’s first settlement houses in Cleveland, Ohio, Hiram Service Leaders are a select group of students who serve with local nonprofit agencies and participate in a multi-year student leadership program, all with a focus on ethical awareness, reflection, and action. Students reflect on and advocate for fairness, impartiality, and equality while addressing systematic social and environmental issues and participate intentionally as a citizen in the democratic process, actively engaging in direct service and public policy.

Objectives

To provide students with opportunities to develop their capacities in the areas of leadership, ethics and civic engagement while benefiting local community service agencies.

The Program’s Elements

Serve with an area nonprofit agency:

  • Students serve as service leaders at area community partner agencies, recruiting, transporting and helping to facilitate additional student volunteers and interns.
  • Work study awards or stipends of up to $1,800 a year at hourly wages are provided to eligible students on a selective basis for their work with partner agencies.

Engage in related academic coursework and skill building:

  • Students participate in and attend annual ethics’ theme events. The 2013-2014 ethics’ theme is Ability and Disability.
  • Students are strongly encouraged to take an ethics course from the ethics’ minor (Engaged Citizenship or Ethical Thinking), or an ethics’ course from within their major or minor.
  • All Hiram Service Leaders are required to write monthly articles high-lighting the agency they serve and collaborative efforts between the agency they serve and Hiram College.

Participation in retreats and professional development:

  • Annual fall service retreats orient Service Leaders and build community.
  • Students are invited (not required) to participate in an alternative break service trip that impels them to learn about, reflect on, and act to address a root cause of environmental, social and/or economic inequity in a community.
  • The Office of Civic Engagement assists Hiram Service Leaders in identifying additional internships and job and scholarship opportunities.
Agencies and Partners:
  • Coleman Professional Services is a not-for-profit provider of behavioral health and rehabilitation programs. Hiram students volunteer and intern at one of their three programs in Ravenna. http://www.coleman-professional.com
  • Hattie Larlham provides health care and social programs for children and adults with developmental disabilities. Hiram College has a long-standing relationship with Hattie Larlham with various departments, student organizations, and individual students volunteering and interning at their facility in Mantua, OH. http://www.hattielarlham.org
  • Hiram College Tutoring Program is an evening tutoring and mentoring program engaging area elementary and middle school age youth.
  • Hiram Farm Living & Learning Community is a nonprofit organization that provides opportunities for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to grow, learn, work, and live in a setting focused on respect and support for individuals and the environment. Hiram College supports the Farm in a variety of ways, from service learning courses, to federal work study students, and volunteer projects. http://www.hiramfarm.org
  • Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary is a non-profit organization that rescues, rehabilitates, and provides an adoption program for abused, abandoned, & neglected farm animals. Hiram Service leaders serve at and provide transportation weekly to Happy Trails. Projects include animal care, landscaping and mucking out animal pens and stalls. http://happytrailsfarm.org
  • King Kennedy Center is a community center in Ravenna which serves youth in the community through after school tutoring and a summer day camp program. Hiram students are especially involved in the afterschool tutoring program.
  • Little Village Early Learning Center is located at Hiram Christian Church and their mission is to provide a safe and nurturing environment to foster the physical, social, emotional and intellectual growth of children through hands-on, developmentally appropriate play and educational activities.
  • Portage Parks and Hiram Field Station engage students in land conservation activities, seeking to preserve and manage protected land while engaging and educating the public. http://www.portageparkdistrict.org
  • Olive Branch Fair Trade Outreach Program is a student directed program that takes fair trade products to area churches and community events to raise awareness of fair trade and to make fair trade more accessible.
  • Renaissance Family Center is a community center in Windham, which houses a number of local social service agencies. Hiram College facilitates an afterschool tutoring program at Renaissance Family Center.
  • University Hospitals Portage Medical Center is a 150-staffed-bed progressive hospital serving the residents of Portage County, including an urgent care facility. Various volunteer positions are available at UH Portage Medical Center.

Student Development courses are taught by members of the Student Life staff. These courses compliment a students co-curricular experience and help students develop invaluable skills such as communication, teamwork, awareness of self and others, ethical decision making, and many more life skills.

The courses offered are:

STDV 193: Money: Financial Survival
STDV 6000: Peer Mentoring in Leadership
STDV 6001: Peer Mentoring: Strive for Pi
STDV 602: International Student Transitions
STDV 605: Successful Transitions
STDV 608: Experiments in Effective Learning
STDV 610: Exploring Majors and Careers
STDV 611: Job Search Skills/Putting Your Major to Work
STDV 612: Steps to Grad School
STDV 630: Honest Conversations