Putting their leadership skills to the test, six Trent University students recently travelled to Brantford to join a leadership competition and got practical experience facilitating challenges – such as making a succinct 30-second pitch – in a team environment.

“It was an exciting day resulting in Trent placing fourth out of eight teams – an accomplishment the team is extremely proud of, especially as it was their first time at the competition,” said Dr. Stephanie Muehlethaler, one of the team’s coaches and principal of Otonabee College.

The Collegiate Leadership Competition (CLC) is a non-profit leadership program, founded in 2015, which creates a dynamic practice field where student leaders can apply what they’re learning in a context that stretches them to the boundaries of their leadership knowledge, skills and abilities.

Trent competed at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford campus – one of the six competitions happening this year across Canada and the United States that includes hundreds of students.

The experience at Trent started in the late fall when 18 students from Otonabee College started learning different leadership skills and then participating in innovative activities, which allowed them to put their skills into action.

Also, the students had the opportunity to have lunch with Drew Dudley - a leadership educator, author and speaker – and talk about what leadership meant to him.

By mid-March, the students selected six of their peers to represent them at the competition.

The final team consisted of a first-year international student, students involved in college cabinets, students from Nursing, Business and Biology, as well as a mature student.

“All the students had one thing in common: they all had a passion for leadership,” Dr. Muehlethaler says.

The day consisted of six 45-minute activities in which each team member had the opportunity to act as the leader. Scores depended on how the leaders facilitated the challenge and how the team fared.

Since the competition, the students are still connecting and talking about this transformational experience.

“The CLC activities assembled real-life situations that I will have to deal with as a leader in the future,” says student Clara Duong. “CLC also taught me how to solve problems, create solutions and work collaboratively with my teammates in order to achieve the best results."

Student Rachel Glofcheskie said the competition opened her eyes to all of the possibilities that leadership offers.

“On competition day, I truly felt transformed as an individual, team member and leader,” she says. “Competing against other universities and colleges highlighted our strengths and weaknesses while allowing us to improve with each step. Seeing the excitement in my team members and coaches as we communicated and celebrated our small wins was the icing on the cake. I left the competition day and the program a more confident leader with a wide array of knowledge in my leadership tool belt.”

Find out more about the CLC.