By: Anastasia Shteyn, Engineering Student and LOT staff

At 5 p.m. on January 29, the second round of the Engineering Co-curricular Leadership Certificate program began. Launched in Fall 2008, the program has already received over 200 applications. Today, the second cohort includes 50 undergraduate U of T Engineering students, selected from more than 100 applicants.

The theme of the Level One Certificate is Team Skills. Engineers often work in teams and teams are a wonderful site for leadership development. In order to take home an Engineering Leaders of Tomorroww Certificate, students are required to attend four leadership workshops: “Discovering Your Leadership Strengths,” “How to Facilitate a Group," “Conflict Transformation,” and “Diversity and Inclusivity in Teams,” and to complete a final reflection paper. Emily Reed, the Student Leadership Curriculum Specialist, and Anitta Satkuranajah, the Student Leadership Development Officer, are the facilitators of the four consecutive workshops this term.

A lot of issues were on the agenda for the evening including an overview of the program’s learning objectives and expectations, a game of Human Bingo and other exciting discoveries. Ms. Reed and Ms. Satkunarajah highlighted that effective team work and conflict resolution skills are key aspects of leadership. They revealed another simple secret of success to the participants: upon completion of the certificate program, one can boost his or her resume and beat out any job-related competition. Moreover, think of the upcoming Level Two of the program: carefully planned behind the doors of the Engineering Leaders of Tomorrow office today, it will offer even more opportunities to our aspiring Engineers next year! The tone of the first workshop was fun and interactive; all workshops are designed to be experiential.

On March 26, this year’s cohort will be awarded their certificates and the program will have approximately 70 graduates. The Engineering Leaders of Tomorrow program encourages graduates to keep their eyes open for Level Two. Last semester, pre- and post-surveys were administered to assess changes in students’ leadership confidence, demonstrating astonishing progress in their ability. This term, the opening workshop revealed how passionate and enthusiastic the participants are about learning and building their leadership. Who knows, maybe one day the 70 outstanding leaders will just be what our world needs to transform into a better place.

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