On Friday, March 18, young women congregated in the ballrooms of Sykes Student Union for “Be True To You,” a seminar presented by Women Leading Up.
Women Leading Up is a leadership organization that seeks to allow women to connect and grow as leaders.
The organization holds three events each semester as part of a Women Leading Up Leadership Series, sponsored by Rent-A-Car. These events have a focus on overcoming the tribulations that come with being a female in a leadership position.
The goal of the seminar was for participants to gain a better understanding of themselves in order to be successful in positional and relational leadership roles.
The event this past Friday saw women from all over campus, speakers prepared for the event, and free refreshments.
Many of the participants were active members of Greek life and donned their respective letters.
The seminar began as the event coordinator, Suzanne Hochberg, introduced the two guest speakers for the program, Dr. Jackie Hodes and Dr. Cheryl Neale-McFall.
Both Dr. Hodes and Dr. Neal-McFall are former assistant professors as well as counselor educators.
Dr. Hodes took the floor and began the discussion by defining leadership and addressing the importance of leadership skills in the real world.
When discussing the necessary qualities of a good leader, the audience offered up their own ideas, agreeing on the importance of confidence and the ability to accept constructive criticism.
Dr. Neale-McFall introduced the core activity of the seminar, titled “What Color Are You?”Each participant was given a score sheet with different personal characteristics, which, when ranked from one to four, added up to a corresponding color: your “true color.”
These colors were representative of different personalities, which corresponded to leadership styles. The goal of this exercise was to dissect the characteristics of your “true color” in the hopes of better understanding yourself and how others might view you.
“It is important to not only understand yourself, but how others see you, too,” said Dr. Neale-McFall, explaining to the crowd the misconceptions that come with each “true color.”
The “true colors” were used throughout the seminar, as participants were encouraged to analyze the “true colors” of other people in their lives.
The ballroom was alive with discussion, as the participating women calculated and analyzed their responses. Dr. Hodes encouraged audience participation, asking the crowd which of their color characteristics proved to be strengths and weaknesses in real life.
Dr. Hodes and Dr. Neale-McFall posed stimulating questions, including, “What are the ‘true colors’ of people you surround yourself with?” The audience shared their responses, and found that the people in their lives were perhaps more colorful than they originally realized. The purpose of the activity was to recognize that, in a leadership position, it is important to understand and empathize with different types of people; different true colors.
Annie Wermuth, a freshman member of Alpha Sigma Tau, gathered with her sisters for the event.
“I learned a lot about myself as a leader, how I work with others, and the difference between how I view myself in comparison to how others view me,“ said Wermuth after the seminar.
The event ended as the speakers made their final remarks, emphasizing the importance of embracing personal strengths and weaknesses in order to be a successful leader.
Their next event will be held on Friday, April 15 in Sykes Ballroom C at 3:00 p.m. To register to the attend, contact Suzanne Hochberg at leadershipga@wcupa.edu.
Anne Subach is a first-year student majoring in marketing. They can be reached at AS842689@wcupa.edu