Student engagement: Leading by example
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of visiting with the first graduates of VCU’s ASPiRE Program, which incorporates community engagement in the educational experience of these students.
They asked me what ASPiRE means to me, and it was an easy answer. For me, ASPiRE is a wonderful example of one of the hallmarks of Virginia Commonwealth University: our resounding commitment to student engagement. Everywhere you look at VCU, you’ll find remarkable students who seize the opportunity to make a difference in the world.
For me, the question isn’t what ASPiRE, and other programs at VCU, mean to me. It is what the students who comprise our premier urban research university will mean to the world that they will be asked to lead.
I always ask our students to use what they learn and discover at VCU to make a difference for their fellow human beings. And increasingly, they are doing exactly that. They are helping VCU become a national model for community engagement, completing more than 1 million hours of community service in Richmond and beyond this academic year. This is important because our nation needs well-educated, thoughtful and passionate young leaders like those at our university.
Did you know that only 7 percent of people in the world have a college education? That means there is not only an expectation, but a dire need, for our students to serve as leaders in our community and our world — leaders who are collaborative, focused on results, driven by passion and who just get things done.
Recently, I spoke to a group of emerging leaders in Richmond, who asked me my thoughts on leadership. In answering, I told them about the work of our students, who do not receive a salary or attention for their efforts. They lead because they are committed to using their talents to make our world a better place for all human beings.
And they inspire others to join them. I heard about a man named Leroy, who until very recently was homeless. But he received some help and is back on his feet. Leroy was determined to repay the kindness he had received, and was moved by the work of our students, who were restoring a long-forgotten but historically significant cemetery on the city’s East End. Leroy — a man who had nothing but the desire to help and the example of our students — now works with us to help revive these beautiful and sacred grounds.
I love this story, because it makes me so proud of our students and all that they contribute to Richmond, whether they get headlines or not. Often, they are leaders without followers, moved to action because it is important, and it is right.
And that’s the best example of leadership I know.
Photos courtesy of VCU ASPiRE: (top) VCU President Michael Rao with Saidu Tejan-Thomas, VCU ASPiRE Class of 2014 and (bottom) VCU ASPiRE Class of 2014 at the ASPiRE graduation ceremony
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