The NEW Leadership South Carolina Institute at Winthrop University will be held May 17-21, 2014. NEW Leadership South Carolina is modeled after a program started at Rutgers University and is a collaborative venture between the College, Winthrop, and Coastal Carolina. The goal is to get more women interested in and prepared for a life of public service—particularly elective office. Since South Carolina ranks 49th in the number of women serving in the legislature, the need is acute and immediate!.
This is a leadership institute designed for college women who want to pursue a career in public service or just want to improve their overall leadership skills to be more effective in any career. It is open to undergraduate and graduate students. This will be our second year and we’ve added a day to the schedule and increased the number of participants to 30. Last year the ages of the women ranged from 17 to 58—all full-time students, a diverse group with a wide variety of political experience, ideologies, majors, and long-term interests. The cost is very reasonable–$250 per student and scholarship assistance is available. The fee includes housing, meals, materials, transportation to Columbia for a day with legislators, etc. I’ve attached last year’s schedule so that you can give students a sense of what they will be doing. The schedule for this year will be ready in early May.
Here is the link for the application, more information, and a video we made last year: https://www.winthrop.edu/westforum/default.aspx?id=27390 Two students from the College participated last year—Johna Menke (WGS, PSYC) and Reed Rayborn (WGS, POLI). Angela Kouters (POLS, class of 2000) served as Faculty in Residence (a woman actively working in politics who lives in the residence halls and serves as an informal mentor; always one Democrat and one Republican). Several CofC folks contributed by giving workshops or participating in panel discussions—Lynn Cherry did a great interactive session on public speaking skills, Doretha Walker led an activity on diversity/leadership, Shirley Hinson participated on a panel discussion in Columbia on Legislative Day, and JoAnn Ewalt and Kendra Stewart led a $mart $tart workshop on the final day.