Around 40 student leaders representing more than 10 social justice organizations gathered Saturday to learn what it takes to be a great leader.
The Four Front Leadership Conference, which took place at the Bradford Research and Extension Center, invited organizations that are represented by Four Front. Four Front serves as an umbrella organization to all minority groups on campus.
“The summit was very successful,” Four Front chairman Sean Nahlik said. “We had just under 40 different representatives hailing from over 10 organizations.”
Nahlik said participants attended workshops on how to effectively lead an organization. The summit was designed to create a new generation of Four Front organization leaders.
“Some of the main things we stressed at the summit were exploring one’s multiple intersecting identities, understanding internalized racism and consciousness-raising of how our identities inform our worldview and leaderships style,” Nahlik said.
The keynote speaker was Marcia Chatelain, a 2001 MU graduate who was involved in social justice issues while attending school here. She also served as a chairwoman of the Hate Report, which has provided students with information on how and where to report hate crimes at MU for several years.
“My favorite part of the summit was the keynote speech given by Dr. Marcia Chatelain, who is a professor at Georgetown University,” sophomore Kelsey Kupferer said. “She knows what it’s like to be heavily involved in student life activities, and I felt like I could really relate to the things she said and the advice she gave.”
Kupferer said she attended the summit for many reasons, but mainly to learn how to better lead the Jewish Student Organization in the future.
“I am the Four Front representative for the Jewish Student Organization, so I was very interested in going to the summit,” Kupferer said. “I am also a Diversity Peer Educator, and the DPE program works closely with Four Front. The conference was geared toward underclassmen that will soon be taking on leadership positions in their respective organizations.”