NYUSH Hosts Leadership Institute
SHANGHAI — On March 22, the NYU Shanghai administration hosted the school’s first Leadership Institute, open to everyone interested in becoming a ...
Apr 12, 2014
SHANGHAI — On March 22, the NYU Shanghai administration hosted the school’s first Leadership Institute, open to everyone interested in becoming a Resident Assistant or Orientation Ambassador. Around 120 students attended the four-hour-long event.
The workshop focused on leadership qualities such as time management and prioritization, morality, being a role model, setting up floor activities and collaborative ability.
The goal of the event was to introduce attendees to a series of exercises designed to help them think like leaders and prepare for responsibilities that they may undertake in future leadership roles.
The Institute opened with a talk from Student Life Administrator David Pe. Pe detailed the factors that led him to a career in leadership, giving students a sense of what it's like to work in education leadership.
Fatima Nanavati, an NYU New York junior and now an RA at NYUSH, helped run the proceedings and praised the objectives of the Institute.
“What I think is great about it is the concept and the goal: to create future leaders. Or at least to show people how they can be leaders and what to consider in the process (decision making, management, organization).”
After some introductory speeches from administrators, attendees were split into smaller groups of ten to twelve for a set of activities.
Freshman Richard Zhao gave a neutral review of the proceedings.
“I would say it’s successful but there’s still room for improvement. For example, there could be more dynamic involvement instead of mere oral presentation and discussion.”
Nanavati agreed and suggested some ideas that would have improved the experience.
"[It needed] more hands-on activities, with lunch, group assignments and larger discussions."
Other suggestions included simply more time.
"It's a perfect process that's so similar to when I did RALI in New York (the RA selection process) ... There were a lot of activities I would have liked to see, but [they] didn't [take place] because of the time crunch."
The school had originally planned for the event to take place on both Friday and Saturday but cut it down to just one day.
“I had a fabulous time running it,” said Nanavati. “It was great to lead activities or hear discussions from everyone.”
Zhao added that, in spite of some flaws with the flow, he had an enriching experience.
"It helped me identify my position in the school and reflect on my role in this community building-up process," he said.
On the whole, Nanavati was also positive.
“I had a fabulous time running it,” she said. “It was great to lead activities or hear discussions from everyone.”
Kiril Bolotnikov is a contributing writer. He writes for On Century Avenue, the student publication at NYU Shanghai. Email him at oncenturyavenue@gmail.com.
Correction: April 14, 2014
It has to come to our attention that in the original edition of this article, we misspelled Fatima Nanavati's last name. The appropriate changes have been made. The Gazelle apologizes to Nanavati for the oversight.
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