<ite the ambition and resourcefulness of many Carleton students, a few opportunities to get involved on campus and around the world remain overlooked. One such opportunity is Carleton’s Student Leadership and Involvement Grant, which endorses collaborative learning experiences that benefit the student body. Despite being an active source of funding for three years, it has maintained a relatively quiet existence. Currently, however, through the Student Activities Programming Board and amplified advertising efforts, the grant has started to see more life.
Cooper Buss ’13 is the Program Assistant for Leadership Development and is responsible for facilitating procedures related to the grant; he helps with everything from application to financial processes. According to Buss, “the Student Leadership and Involvement Grant is meant to assist students interested in acquiring practical experience as a foundation for making positive change at Carleton College.”
“This is an important asset because it provides students with funding specifically intended to help them gain useful skills and knowledge. It basically allows you to pursue your passions, gaining leadership experience along the way. ”
The main aim of the grant is to benefit the collective student body. Therefore, individual learning experiences funded by the leadership grant must somehow apply to the campus community.
In the past, the grant has taken its recipients to both national and international forums around the globe, ranging in location from Denmark to New York to good old Minnesota. These conferences discussed a spectrum of issues, ranging from environmental concerns to humanistic debates.
Buss hopes to extend its potential and utilization—he is confident in its capacity to improve the quality of education and generate persisting change.
“The potential for what groups do to give back to campus is quite enormous. Several of the groups we have recently funded are collaborating to hold a mini conference later this term that will consist of several workshops and a performance. In the future, I would like to see groups taking on more and more ambitious goals in terms of what they do with the information they gain as a result of the Leadership Grant’s funds. I want to start pushing groups early on to strive to make a positive, large, and lasting impact on campus.”
The application is available online and can be accessed by signing into the student leadership section of the Student Activities Office website. More detail regarding the application and its components are also posted on the website. Buss encourages prospective applicants to contact him in order to discuss the potential of their proposals in the application process. The office is currently accepting applications.