By Andrew Higgins
Elevate was a collaborative leadership lab that took place at Gordon College over the span of one full week. During our time there, each student was split into one of five groups, with each group focused on a different topic chosen by one of the students. My topic was combating the normalization of vaping within teens and young students, chosen by a teammate who had come from Kennesaw, Georgia. Throughout the week, the groups got to know their group mates, researched their issue, and came up with a potential solution, finally culminating in the creation of an idea pitch, which would be presented in front of a panel of judges. We all worked together on studying and brainstorming, and then split ourselves up based on our skills for creating the pitch. I was in the group creating the PowerPoint for our pitch, so I focused mostly on technological and aesthetic aspects of our project. Through my team’s work, we got second place, which resulted in a $1000 funding towards our project to help it be put into place.
Elevate was a great experience to help with teamwork, leadership, and efficient problem solving, as we only had a week to get to know one another, learn our problem, and solve it. It was a ton of fun, and incredibly helpful going forward towards life in college.
Photo Credits: ELEVATE