Registration for the annual leadership conference will close on Jan. 21
By AALIYAH ESPAÑOL-RIVAS — campus@theaggie.org
The UC Davis Center for Leadership Learning (CLL) will host their 11th annual “Aggies Leading the Way!” leadership conference on Feb. 3.
Comprised of workshops, keynote speakers and opportunities for networking, the conference aims to provide UC Davis students who are interested in strengthening their personal, professional and leadership skills an event to connect with those who have the same interests. According to the CLL website, it is a free, all-day event open to undergraduates across all majors and class levels. The event will be held at the UC Davis Conference Center.
Director of the CLL Christie Navarro said that the conference was first introduced in 2010, before undergoing a three-year hiatus due to budget constraints and staffing issues. However, it was revived in 2014 and made its debut with the theme “Discovery, Partnership, Change.”
Since then, the center has hosted the event every year, with the theme of this year’s conference being, “Mapping Your Journey.”
The theme, developed by the CLL interns, was chosen after brainstorming and taking into consideration the suggestions from evaluations given to last year’s attendees. Iris Chen, a CLL peer leader intern and second-year psychology and economics double-major, described how hard the process of choosing a theme was, given the many good ideas proposed.
“It was hard to delete some good ideas too — there was one about cooking, like the different ingredients of leadership — but we settled on transportation,” Chen said.
“Mapping Your Journey,” acknowledges the different ups and downs that UC Davis students may face throughout both their academic and career journeys, equipping students with the skills to continue moving forward with purpose.
“The decision was made to create a space/conference where students explore how to turn their goals and dreams into reality, while also learning from the process itself,” Navarro said via email.
Chen acknowledged the benefits of this conference because leadership is something that most want to be involved in.
“There’s a lot of things about leadership that [attendees will be] able to learn through this conference, such as developing their inner values,” Chen said.
Shanece Stuart, a fifth-year communications major and CLL peer leader intern, also believes that the conference brings awareness to the existence of the CLL itself, which serves as a resource for all students.
“[The conference] gives an opportunity for us to expose ourselves, but also teach students different life skills,” Stuart said. “[The] leadership we see is an important skill to have in life in general, but there are also other fun activities and workshops at the conference.”
Chen, who also attended the conference last year, hopes students will not only gain something through the opportunities and resources of the conference but also form friendships with other attendees.
“What I hope students will get out of it this year are the opportunities, knowing that CLL exists and also creating friendships within the conference with those who value the same things as you,” Chen said.
To register, UC Davis students can visit the CLL website to fill out a 15-minute form and answer two short-answer questions to reserve a spot. Registration closes on Jan. 21.
Written by: Aaliyah Español-Rivas — campus@theaggie.org
