CDI hosts P3

The Michigan Tech Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) held its annual P3: People, Purpose, and Passion seminar. The event, which happened on Saturday, Oct 8, from 9 a.m. to 3:35 p.m. at Fisher Hall, was attended by the leaders of student organi­zations on campus.

According to event organizers, the semi­nar was planned to “enrich [participants’] ability to foster impactful experiences for [their] fellow student and organization members.” Event organizers also hoped that the seminar would challenge student leaders on campus to “reflect upon and en­gage in dialogue with fellow student lead­ers and expand [their] network.”

The keynote speaker was T.J. Sullivan, a renowned college leadership speaker in the United States who has spoken “to more than 3 million students in 50 states” according to the organizers. The speaker is characteristically identified with the strengths of offering “realm-practical solu­tions to the most common problems fac­ing student leaders.” He is the author of the well-received book “Motivating the Mid­dle: Fighting Apathy in College Student Organizations,” published in 2012. In his address, Sullivan told the student leaders present to “lead, motivate, influence, im­pact you’re from where they are, not from where you wish they are.”

Sullivan’s keynote, which he themed around his book, revealed, in a system­atic format, the levels of membership that exists in every student organization. Ac­cording to him, there are three levels of membership: top third, middle third and bottom third. The top-third are usually the leaders who “wrap their personal identity in your group, exert the most influence on its actions, and make your group their top priority” he said. The middle-third are members who “care about your organiza­tion and the relationships they have there, but it’s one of several competing priori­ties” and the bottom third are members who “are disengaged, potentially causing drama, or checked out.” “Unfortunately,” he noted “most top-third leaders spend the majority of their time fighting the bottom-third [through] trying to make them attend events, care more deeply, and contribute more.”

There were about 200 participants from student organizations including the So­ciety of African-American Men, African Students Organization, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Delta Alpha, Alpha Sigma Mu, Canterbury House Students Organi­zation, Chi Epsilon, Cru, Indian Students’ Association and the Undergraduate Stu­dent Government.

The event included sessions in which participants broke into groups under a facilitator to discuss certain topics. Some the topics discussed in the sessions were: taking sleep to heart, healthy relationships, the apathy myth: real answers for unmo­tivated members, Event planning at Tech, Student organization finances and budget­ing, global experiences near and far, and mindfulness- the science + technique, and Purpose-led life, purpose led leadership. The facilitators for the various sessions were staff of Michigan Tech who volun­teered for the purpose. They came from diverse professional backgrounds. These include Brigitte Morin, lecturer, biologi­cal sciences; Nathan Liebau, Director of the Waino Center for Student Success; Jes­sie Stapleton, Director of Student Activi­ties, and Bonnie Gorman, Associate Vice President and Dean of Students. Some of the participants remarked that the seminar had a great impact on them and thanked CDI for the opportunity.