Student leaders from the Cleveland Job Corps Center joined Student Government Association (SGA) delegates from 10 other Centers for the Fall 2017 Horizons SGA Leadership Conference from October 24 -27, 2017, in Shenandoah Valley, VA. The conference, held twice a year at Camp Horizons, combines low and high ropes challenge initiatives, classroom sessions, and team assignments.

In the classroom, participants examined the role of communication, motives in leadership and considered strategies for building effective leadership teams to serve the student body at Job Corps centers. During the high ropes initiatives, SGA leaders worked on their team-building skills, stepped out of their comfort zones to climb trees, traverse tree-top cables, ride the zip line and experience the thrill of the giant swing.

A highlight of the conference was the Thursday banquet program, with keynote speaker Art Dean, Executive Director of Campus and Community Programs for Access and Inclusion at James Madison University. Dean focused on three points during his speech: Look Around, Don’t Give Up, and Make Decisions with your Future in Mind.

The conference concluded with each SGA delegation presenting an action plan for improving their centers. The Cleveland team’s plan focused on building a stronger student leadership team to encourage, motivate and support the student body. Specifically, the plan calls for scheduling an Internal Student Leadership Recruitment Fair to attract new student leaders, give accurate descriptions of current positions, provide follow-up and an orientation for new leaders.