As Jan. 22 came along and winter break was coming to a close, some students were just beginning to prepare for spring semester, but the campus was already abuzz with other students who had moved in early.

Tuesday morning was when the annual Leadership Day event was held, spanning half a day and engaging students with different skill-building activities. Shelissa Newball, the Assistant Director of Student Activities, who has been at the university for a mere four months, coordinated it. She knew this was a big event and that there might be pressure to keep standards of the previous year, but everything ran smoothly.

Newball reflected, “It was a little nerve wracking, but I’m very glad students had a good time”.

Her focus for this year’s Leadership Day was to incorporate a social justice theme; she worked with Rebecca Kitchell, the Associate Director of Residential Education to do so. Using this theme, Shelissa got the motivational speaker Daniel Trust to open Leadership Day. She was interested in “how he translated his experiences to his success as a leader.”

Daniel Trust started off his life in a way many of us can not even bear to imagine. He witnessed his mother get killed during the civil war in Rwanda, and his father and many siblings also passed away. Trust was a lucky survivor of the genocide; he came to the United States at the age of 15 and went straight to high school. On his first day, Trust was in awe that French fries were being served in the cafeteria; he had eaten them only during special occasions back home. Trust was also surprised at how friendly and welcoming everyone was; he soon became captain of his volleyball and track teams.

He aims to show students that no one can change the past, but that is no reason to let it affect the future. “You may fall down, but you’ve got to get up, gotta keep pushing,” urged Trust.

Students were amazed at how Trust had the strength to overcome such unimaginable things. “You have to focus on the positives, kick the negatives aside,” he said while doing a little kicking motion, banishing the past instead of letting it torment him.

Trust now has a foundation that raises money to donate school supplies to children in Haiti. He traveled to Haiti last year to volunteer with Child Hope International, which helps abandoned and orphaned children. Trust has been speaking to audiences for five years, and he says that through this, he can learn to accept and reflect on his past while learning to forgive. His ultimate goal is to give back by opening orphanages around the world.

Another theme for this year was to connect with community organizations such as the CT Food Bank, IRIS, Project AIDS and New Haven Reads. Newball wanted students to see how many opportunities there are to get involved in the area and to spread the organization’s messages to their own clubs and organizations.

Hunger 101 was an example of a program held by the CT Food Bank in which students interactively learned what it was like to feed a family for a day using limited resources.

“Promoting the mission while working in their clubs” was a Newball’s goal for the students. She also did a successful job of incorporating programs targeted for both beginning and advanced leaders.

Networking was a main thing that she wanted to accomplish from this event, so that students could network and leave with resources that would help them become leaders in their own sense.

Many programs were focused on developing one’s own values, because before someone can lead others, it is necessary to define leadership within a personal context. The qualities and functions of a student leader were explored in programs such as “Student Leadership with a Purpose,” “What Type of Leader are You,” “Student Leadership on a Diverse Campus” and “Leadership and Community.”

Other programs were related to teamwork and communications, such as “Building an Effective Team,” “Kick Start Your Marketing,” “Working with Outside Vendors,” and Organizational Conflict.”

Students picked three sessions to attend, each one spanning 45 minutes, and then everyone gathered in the Alumni Lounge for a reflection on the entire day. Students mentioned how much Daniel Trust had inspired them and what skills they would bring back to the community.

“I learned tips on keeping motivation in my E-Board,” senior Nazly Bokhari said. Many congratulations to Shelissa Newball for organizing such a successful Leadership Day.