9th Annual Leadership Summit – San Diego MESA Alliance

The 9th annual San Diego MESA Alliance Leadership Summit took place at the Indian Hills Camp in Jamul on the weekend of February 19 – February 21, 2010. 32 MESA/MEP/MSP students from San Diego City College, San Diego State University, and Southwestern College participated in various competitions that promoted the use of their leadership skills and various strengths attributes.

The Strengths Quest seminar presented by Mr. Rafael Alvarez consisted of Reviewing Strengths (resulting from an online Strengths Quest test via the Gallup Organization), a Scavenger Hunt, Common Strengths lecture, and a homework assignment on visual expression. Students then broke into teams to complete a LEGO challenge.

As the afternoon turned into late evening, students mingled around the bonfire to conclude the night.

Mr. Rafael Alvarez continued the Strengths Quest seminar with lectures on how to connect strengths to future planning and life/career goals, as a well as a workshop on creating a cover/interest letter(s). SDSU MEP alumna and current industry member from IEC, Ms. Dolores Ventura, led a seminar on Self-Leadership to continue the 2nd day of activities.

Students who dared were treated to the Zip Line activity in which a pulley is suspended on a cable mounted on an incline. Afterwards, students returned to complete team challenges consisting of building toothpick bridges and pitting them in several competitions based on aesthetics and weight capacity, as well as a PowerPoint presentation that culminated the lessons learned from the weekend.

The night again concluded with the roasting of marshmallows around a bonfire.

The last day was reserved for the conclusion of the team challenge which consisted of conducting a PowerPoint presentation on specific topics, as the annual Leadership Summit came to an end.

LEGO competition winners:

3rd place: Team #4