Student organizations around the STEM field can compete in team-building games for the chance to win $100 at the Leadership Development Program’s Leadership Game Night on April 16.

The Leadership Development Program focuses on students in STEM to help them learn skills industries and employers find favorable, according to Bruce DeRuntz, program director.

“The program was born out of businesses’ and industries’ needs for graduates to have the interpersonal and leadership skills that are most valuable to them today,” DeRuntz said.

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DeRuntz said the game night is meant to be an introduction to LDP in hopes students will join and be able to reap the benefits of being a part of the program.

“For two years of training, we’ve found that [students] have a 30% higher and faster graduation rate due to the leadership training that they’re receiving,” DeRuntz said. “We also have a 96% pre-graduation placement rate, so the employers are right there to snatch them up.”

Seven student organizations are registered to compete in the event so far, according to Ruben Moro Romon, a junior studying mechanical engineering and an activity organizer.

“They got the word out that it was going to be a really fun game night, and we’re gonna be participating against all the other engineering RSOs,” Zach Boehl, a SAE Saluki Baja member, said.

Boehl said if his group wins, they plan on using the prize towards parts for their vehicles or for a celebration, including pizza.

“It just sounded like it would be a lot of fun, and on top of the fun there was the benefit of the monetary prize, so that was definitely a little bit of a push,” Lincoln Kinley, a senior member of ATMAE Robotics, said. 

Moro Romon said the Leadership Development Program has organized four different games with varying difficulty levels which require participants to work in an organized team environment.

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Games are scored by points and the team with the most points at the end wins the prize, Moro Romon said.

“My goal for this would be that everyone has fun and they’ll see that leadership is not something they should fear,” Moro Romon said.

Staff reporter Elizabeth Biernacki can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @EBiernacki_619.

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