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LEADING GAYLORD EFFORTS : Journalism senior Laurie Dernick serves as chair of the Gaylord Ambassadors, a group of students who work with the college as hosts for prospective students and college visitors. Photo by Billy Adams

Students lead busy campus lives
Gaylord College students seek out leadership roles in a multitude of campus activities.

By Dawndee Hudson

At the end of a typical day, many students head for the comfort of home and the prospect of free time. For those who have chosen to be active participants in campus life, however, the end of the day marks the beginning of many responsibilities beyond attending classes and studying.

These students involved in university leadership roles are giving their time to serve a larger function in campus life. Gaylord College students fill numerous and diverse leadership roles that give them experiences outside the world of journalism and mass media and help them develop skills and create contacts beyond those necessary in their chosen professions.

Rennie Cook, director for the Center for Student Life and associate dean of students, says that students in leadership positions play a vital role in university life.

“Leadership is influence,” he says. “At a very basic level that’s true, but even at a very complex level, that’s what leadership is. It’s influencing others. We teach our students that you can lead from wherever you’re at. Leadership isn’t about a position. You can lead within the group, you can lead behind the group, you can lead at the head of the group.”

Gaylord College Dean Joe Foote says he wants to stress developing leadership skills within the college and encourage students to seek positions of influence in the larger campus community.

Foote founded The Gaylord Ambassadors, a student group that acts as a liaison between the college and external communities, in 2005 with that end in mind.

“I sensed a void when I came here in providing leadership opportunities,” he says. “Our students have valuable leadership experiences through The Oklahoma Daily, the ‘Sooner’ yearbook, the nightly newscast and the college’s student organizations, but I thought there should be something special that focused on leadership and external relations. That’s why we founded the Ambassadors.”

Foote says serving as a student leader helps increase the potential for success in life after college.

“You can get a journalism degree by going to classes, making good grades, picking up your diploma and walking across the stage,” he says. “There’s no requirement that you get involved with any of these things. Yet I would say that 90 percent of successful journalism and mass communication majors have had a long list of extracurricular activities and leadership positions to get them there. It’s almost a prerequisite to success in the field.”

Kristen Partridge, Campus Activities Council adviser, works with many Gaylord College students in CAC. She says their success in a variety of leadership positions attests to the training they have received.

“They bring a knowledge of the current trends in sharing information and getting the word out to people that I believe could be attributed to their classroom experience within the Gaylord College,” she says.

For Lindsay Prince, public relations sophomore and CAC Film Series Chair, the leadership experience carries responsibility but also provides self-fulfillment and fun.

As Film Series chair, Prince brings movies to campus and has worked on a program that would allow talented student directors and producers to show their work in connection with national sponsorship as a way to get their names out.

“I love being in a leadership position because it’s something that’s really close to my heart and I feel that I can help out others,” she says. “I love it because I can make a change on campus.”

Prince, who also is the informal recruitment chair for her sorority, Phi Mu, has been involved with CAC since her freshman year.

“It’s the most real-world experience because you’re actually in charge of something that’s your responsibility,” she says. “I think it’s an amazing experience that you can’t get through the classroom. It gives you a chance to really know what you are doing here at OU, to see all the different aspects OU can offer and just make your college experience worthwhile.”

For Michael Giesecke, public relations senior and public relations chair for CAC, campus leadership was an easy choice. Giesecke, involved in CAC since his freshman year, says he benfitted in many ways from the long hours he spent working for the campus as a whole.

“I think it’s very important to be involved because you’re going to learn a lot that you’re not going to learn in the classroom,” he says. “There are all kinds of different organizations and different ways you can get involved. You take whatever it is – whether it’s your major or your hobbies – and put that to use somewhere on campus. You’re going to meet new people and you’re going to make connections.”

Giesecke’s responsibilities as public relations chair included planning campus events, designing T-shirts for numerous organizations and working with OU’s administration. His work was meant to help CAC and serve the community, but his motivations weren’t all noble: He enjoyed the feeling of self-fulfillment he got from his work, he says.

“It’s just a fun feeling I get when I’m on campus and I see people walking around and they don’t know me but they’re wearing one of my shirts,” he says. “It’s just sort of neat to see that. I’m a big believer in leadership development. I think student life at OU is a good place for that. It’s really a time when you start to define yourself.”

Laurie Dernick, public relations senior, agrees with Giesecke that getting involved helps not only others but the one who assumes responsibility. Dernick says leadership on campus can help break down walls that tend to isolate students at a large school.

Dernick, a Gaylord Ambassador and intern in the OU Athletics Department, says she took pride in helping students make the transition to OU and feel comfortable on campus. As an Ambassador, Dernick contacts perspective students, helps with events such as JMC Jumpstart — a welcoming event for journalism freshmen — and escorts visitors around campus.

“We act as liaisons between prospective students and the college and as a liaison between campus visitors and the college,” she says. “It’s one thing for a student to look through a brochure and decide to go to OU. It’s another for them to meet students, interact with students and meet faculty. It gets them motivated to come here.”

Dernick, who graduated from OU with a bachelor’s degree in international studies in spring 2004 and returned to earn her second bachelor’s degree in journalism in fall 2006, said students should take advantage of leadership opportunities.

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