Contact: Kenneth Billings
STARKVILLE, Miss.--When Tucker Davidson began planning for his freshman year at Mississippi State, the Hernando High School senior was looking for ways to get involved on campus and plug into the Starkville community.
Like hundreds of other prospective freshmen, the building and construction science major saw the Day One Leadership program as the perfect way to launch his college career and immediately started the application process to compete for the 270 spots available for 2010.
The high demand for the limited spots available each year to incoming freshmen stands as a testament to the success of the freshman service-learning program and its goal of building today's students into the leaders of tomorrow. This fall, 270 incoming freshmen from eight states were selected from more than 500 applicants to be a part of Day One and begin their college career working with 44 community partners to learn leadership through service.
"The demand for our program has grown every year," said program manager Stephen Williams. "We are finding that more and more students want to get involved and feel it is important to give back in some way. We provide the vehicle to be that connection between the student and the service organization that needs volunteers, while instilling in students that being a leader is more than what you do. It's a lifestyle."
Day One was the brainchild of psychology professor Tom Carskadon, who proposed the initial concept in 2006. A team of John Grisham Master Teachers, Carskadon, marketing professor Melissa Moore, management and information systems professor Allison Pearson, along with assistant professor of counseling and educational psychology April Heiselt and Cade Smith, director of the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement, took the concept and created the one-of-a- kind program at Mississippi State.
In 2007, the Day One Leadership Community enrolled 225 freshmen into the university's new leadership development program under the mantra "Leadership begins with Day One." A committed team of mentors and teachers embraced the phrase as a commitment to help shape students into persons of impact and significance.
That impact is evidenced in this year's seniors who were a part of the original Day One class.
"Being a part of Day One taught me what it really means to be a leader," said senior Le'Roy Davenport of Greenville. "It taught me that being a leader is about more than being the person out front. It is about knowing your strengths and abilities and using them for the benefit of others."
Because of his experiences with the Day One program, the marketing major chose to
pursue a minor in leadership. Now, as a Fellow in the MSU Montgomery Leadership Program (formerly Appalachian Leadership Honors Program), he helps with the newest class of Day One participants.
Through the years, Day One has become more efficient in delivering a meaningful experience to first-year students at Mississippi State. The program, in its fourth year, is led by Smith, who is now the director of the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement.
A key component of the Day One experience revolves around community service. Students are divided into "Action Teams," with about five students paired with specially-trained faculty or staff mentors serving as resource advocates and coordinators for service-learning projects, extending classroom learning experiences into the community.
These teams have worked in the past with such community agencies as Boys and Girls Clubs of Oktibbeha County, Starkville Habitat for Humanity, Boy Scouts of America's Camp Seminole, and Oktibbeha County Humane Society.
In addition to helping develop an attitude of service, Smith said, "Day One helps students foster a deeper relationship with the university community and develop leadership and professional skills. Through their student-led service-learning projects, participants have the opportunity to access, practice, and refine the skills that will ensure their success after graduation. This program can have a lasting impact on their entire career."
Davenport agreed, saying, "Through my activities in Day One, I was able to build strong relationships with my fellow students and faculty, and this helped me connect to every department on campus. That gave me a greater sense of community and deepened my connection to the university as a whole. Those relationships have been a very important part of my success at Mississippi State."
Davidson said he has also begun seeing some of the social benefits of being in Day One.
"While it is definitely teaching me leadership skills, I'm also getting to meet a lot of new people," he said. "It is pushing me to get outside of myself, interact with others, and become more comfortable to interacting with business people and those in authority."
He said that at the end of the day, however, Day One is ultimately about leadership through service.
"Every day I am reassured that being a leader and truly being able to lead others is not about self. It is about getting involved, leading by example, and doing something that will be a benefit to society as a whole."