USUE Leadership Day features future 2024-25 student leaders

On Thursday, Mar. 21 and Friday, Mar. 22 high school seniors, transfer students, and non-traditional students came to USU Eastern to try out for leadership positions for the 2024-2025 academic school year. USU Eastern has five leadership teams that all contribute great things to the school: Ambassadors, USUSA, Outdoor Rec, Aggies Elevated, and Peer Mentors. 

The two-day event started out both days with check in starting at 8:00 a.m. The students were then invited to grab a swag bag and nametag and have their picture taken by USUSA student leaders. The students were then guided to the multi-Purpose Room to participate in various “Icebreaker Games”. At 9:00, everyone was welcomed by Eastern Vice President, Dyson Lighthall. He stated, “All of the current student leaders were in your shoes a year ago. We know how you feel, but we want to make today as fun and stress-free as possible.” After the welcome, all the student leaders participated in a dance battle to ease the stress of the future students. Then all the student leaders invited the interviewees to participate in a dance battle. Five students were selected to compete in the final round of the dance battle for a chance to win an Eastern jersey. 

After the dance battles, everyone gathered in the Alumni Room for a more formal welcome. Tecia Tima, admission specialist, gave a presentation about USU Eastern that included information about financial aid, student life, and housing information. The time was turned back over to Lighthall to introduce all the advisors of Eastern’s leadership teams. Kevin Hurst, Director of Students, then invited up individuals from each leadership team to participate on a Student Panel. The panelist included: Annie Hooper, Resident Advisor, Emily Roundy, Peer Mentor, Casey Steckler, Ambassador, Dyson Lighthall, Eastern Vice President, Madysen Probst, Outdoor Rec, and Hannah Spackman, Aggies Elevated. 

The students were then guided back into the MPR. They were split up into various groups to participate in activities hosted by our current student leaders. The games included: building a tower with marshmallows and spaghetti, prioritizing supplies if you were in the middle of an ocean, planning an event, and practicing public speaking skills. All these activities were great for current student leaders and advisors to see how well each student worked in a certain situation with others. 

After all the fun of games, students were invited to eat lunch provided by the wonderful Dining Services staff and to sign up for interviews. Students were encouraged to sign up for multiple interviews throughout the day to get to learn from each team and get to know them better. While students were waiting around for interviews, there were many fun activities going on in the Nexus Student Lounge. Painting mugs, playing cornhole, cards, and video games were a great way for these future students to help calm nerves and get to know more people who they could potentially be working with in the upcoming school year. 

All the USU Eastern leadership teams have some very tough decisions to make. All the students who tried out were amazing and truly put their best foot forward. The applicants will know by the first week of April if they were selected to be on a leadership team. Good luck to all the candidates that tried out!