On Monday, Behrend’s Leadership Week began with Leadership Lunch and will culminate with the Leadership Conference on Friday and Saturday. Throughout this week there will be a series of leadership development events held outside of Bruno’s. These are sponsored by the Leadership Ambassadors to help current student leaders, and for students who are looking to begin their leadership journey.

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The Leadership Lunch series started about two years ago. The lunches are a low time commitment and are a different way for students to get experience and education on leadership. So far the program has been a successful way to reach students who are very involved on campus and those who are not quite as involved. The Student Activity Fee (SAF) funds the food for the lunches and they happen about once a month, with each lunch having a different focus.

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At Monday’s lunch, the Penn State values, including integrity, respect, responsibility, discovery, excellence and community, were discussed. Although the Penn State community was the focal point, a community can be large or small, such as the Erie community or the communities within residence halls.

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Attendees discussed times when they lived in congruence with the Penn State values and times when they did not. This was a way for them to assess themselves, rather than being overly critical. They also discussed how following a set of values is not black or white. Some values may even conflict with each other, such as trying to spend adequate time between a career and friends and family. Those in attendance also took a look at the ethical decision making model. The students broke into two groups and each group analyzed a scenario. Both scenarios had conflicting values and gave the students much to debate. A series of questions were handed out to help guide the discussions. These questions suggested how to gather facts about the situations and eventually determine what is the correct response. One of the groups discussed what to do about a homeless student living in a residence hall. Although they felt for the student, the group agreed that they must do the right thing by the homeless student and the other residents. This scenario demonstrated how difficult it can be to make the correct decision, especially when there are many different parties whose needs must be considered.

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Leadership Week continues with “What is Your 6 Word Memoir?” from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside of Bruno’s on Tuesday, “Get Real with Your Values” on Wednesday outside Bruno’s from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and “What is Your Leadership Competency?” on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside of Bruno’s. On Friday students will leave campus to attend the annual Leadership Conference and will return Saturday afternoon.