Photo By Sgt. Dwight Henderson | U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Amy Peterson, an Officer Candidates School instructor and...... read more read more
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Marine Corps Leadership Seminar visited St. Augustine’s University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and North Carolina Central University March 25 to 27.
For the past four years, colleges and universities across the country have hosted the Marine Corps Leadership Seminar. The program connects the Marine Corps to a diverse population of students, faculty and community members by communicating a message of leadership and integrity. This helps the Marines to foster and grow positive impressions within those communities.
“I think this program is important because it gives exposure to Marine Corps leadership principals to people who otherwise wouldn’t get it,” said Capt. Lauren Bosco, the executive officer of A Company, Officer Candidates School, and native of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. “It also builds the civic-Marine Corps relationship.”
As a direct result of former Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James Amos’ planning guidance of 2010, the seminar focuses on schools with a diverse student body and teaches those students about Marine Corps leadership.
St. Augustine’s University’s Belk Professional Development Center welcomed freshmen from Wake Young Men’s Leadership Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina, to take part in the seminar. Likewise, students from North Carolina Central University and North Carolina A&T State University had opportunities to attend at their respective schools.
“There is a huge focus on ethics and leadership at our school,” said Dr. Cathy Cornelius, the assistant dean for student success at North Carolina A&T State University’s School of Business and Economics. “For our students – the future leaders – there will be many opportunities for them to make ethical decisions, so this is very important to us.”
The seminar was taught by officer instructors with Officer Candidates School (OCS) from Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. They taught classes on education, decision making and values.
“The hardest part for them is having to make a decision without the information they want to make that decision,” said Capt. Amy Peterson, an OCS instructor from Raleigh, North Carolina.
The instructors trained the students the way officer candidates are trained at OCS. Along with classes, they broke them up into groups and gave them problems to solve as teams. One student would lead, and the others would follow and then critique at the end.
“I thought the challenges were interesting,” said Antonio Donnell Jr., an economics major at North Carolina A&T State University. “Once you add stress to a situation, there are a lot more barriers to communication than I thought.”
The challenges included passing metal ammunition cans to one another, with the challenge being that one student could not use his arms, one couldn’t open their eyes and another had to keep their eyes on the group leader at all times. Others were asked to remember the layout of mines in a notional minefield and then navigate their fellow students through it. While these tasks might seem military specific or even obscure, the quick decision making or memory skills necessary can be applied to everyday situations.
“I thought this was wonderful,” said Tony Belch, a senior finance student at North Carolina Central University. “I liked hearing the different outlooks from different people. I felt like I got a whole lot out of it, and I’d love to do it again.”
The seminar also involved a case study to test their decision making and lectures from guest speakers retired Maj. Gen. Cornell Wilson Jr. and retired Brig. Gen. George Walls Jr.
“This is a great thing that the Marine Corps does,” said Walls Jr. “This gives the Marine Corps a chance to show students what we do and to show them Marine Corps leadership, which is the best form of leadership.”
| Date Taken: | 03.27.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.01.2015 19:40 |
| Story ID: | 158877 |
| Location: | RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 249 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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