91探花

June 28, 2013

Leadership: Beyond the yellow brick road

Transforming the world of Oz was a team effort by Dorothy, the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow. What was their secret to success? How did they lead? Here at the 91探花, we know that successful leadership begins with learning to lead and includes meaningful鈥攁nd multiple鈥攚ays to practice and sharpen those skills.

The new offers undergraduate students opportunities to discover who they are as leaders, grow their leadership abilities, and make a real difference in the world.

In fall, 2012, the Husky Leadership Initiative kicked off the year with the successful event, . U Lead We Lead used the ancient art of storytelling to start a contemporary conversation on leadership with 91探花undergraduates and community leaders. The conversation continued throughout the school year with the Spring Training Leadership Conference, a leadership certificate program, informal fireside chats with local luminaries, and now鈥攑utting learning into practice鈥攖he first 91探花team leadership scholarship award.

The Ackerley Learning to Lead Together scholarship program supports undergraduates developing their leadership potential in collaboration with peers through innovative team projects that build strong communities. The first Ackerley Learning to Lead Together scholarship was awarded May 7 at the Spring Celebration of Service and Leadership to Max Sugarman, Angela Feng, Carter Case, and Marina Kelsh for their project, 鈥淓mpowered Eco-Education: 隆Vamos a comer!鈥� Their project will offer lessons around the topics of food, nutrition, and access to healthy food as an environmental issue. They aim to serve elementary school students and their parents and high school students within Seattle鈥檚 South Park community.

Generously funded by the Ackerley Family Foundation, this scholarship is a direct reflection of the family鈥檚 belief that leadership is honed through learning and experience. 鈥淟earning to lead and learning the meaning of leadership is a very basic part in all of our roles in life,鈥� says Ginger Ackerley, who along with her late husband, Barry, established the Foundation. 鈥淲ithin the Foundation some of us have titles, some of us do not, however we all lead; we have to in order to complete our mission. I would hope the recipients of the Ackerley Learning to Lead Together scholarship would join us in an effort to be a positive influence in our world.鈥�

Team Dorothy reached their goal by recognizing the skills each team member brought to the job at hand. The Learning to Lead Together scholarship program enables 91探花team members to learn to lead collaboratively and experience the ways they complement each other to accomplish a greater goal.

鈥淟eadership is more than a position of authority,鈥� says Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. 鈥淚t is a set of practices and behaviors incorporating teamwork, respect, responsibility, and civic engagement.鈥�