Director of Student Life Matt Cipriano is trying to brighten the future of tomorrow here at Bucks with his Emerging Leaders program that seeks to build the confidence of young students.

“The Emerging Leadership Program is not to only build those leadership skills among the student body, but also to have more well-prepared student leaders on all three campuses,” Cipriano said.

The Emerging Leadership program is a program that is piloted towards young students who plan on staying at Bucks for the long haul that can be trained in leadership skills. The program is going to be 10 weeks long, but it can be modified to fit people’s schedules.

Cipriano is going to be the facilitator and will be assisted by guest speakers from authority positions at the college. One of the guest speakers will be Assistant Professor of Health and Physical Education Scott Bradshaw. Bradshaw will teach a ropes course as a team-building exercise.

“The idea of using guest speakers is for the students to get to know some of the college faculty as well as learn new skills,” Cipriano said.

“Our students are only here for a short amount of time and by the time they become comfortable and knowledgeable about the campus and are running on all cylinders they graduate. So, the thought is how can I speed up the process and give them the full package up front,” Cipriano said.

Cipriano revealed that part of this program is to prepare students to take over in student government, or some other kind of leadership role.

“I would love to have about 120 students join the group and then go through a 10 week period that would prepare them to be student leaders,” Cipriano said.

“Leadership is not lacking at Bucks, but I just think it needs to be organized a little differently because of how transient our population is,” he added.

A popular misconception about leadership is that you either have it or you don’t, but he doesn’t believe that. “I think everybody leads in some way and they do leadership things in our lives. I think everybody has the potential for greatness.”

The greatness Cipriano spoke of was not exclusive either as he said, “I think anybody can be a leader because there are different kinds of leaders. There are ones that are going to be the focus of the group that are out there delegating and then you have the ones that are behind the scenes and do not want the spotlight on them.”

Leadership does not come without opposition, however, as Cipriano explained how every leader should have good communication skills to get their point across clearly so that people will know what you want them to do.

Head Coach of the Men’s Soccer team at Bucks, Justin Burroughs, agreed with Cipriano when Burroughs said, “It helps you with managing different personalities so you can work with people better.”

Along the road to becoming the Director of Student Life at Bucks, Cipriano revealed that the person that had a biggest impact on him becoming a leader was a fellow college classmate who was student government president.

“He was someone who was able to balance it all and kept things positive and creative in figuring out what would work for a particular student, Cipriano said. ‘He was always encouraging and I felt that was someone I could be like, that is the example I want to follow.”

Marine Sergeant Brandon Philips says that leadership skills are essential.

“It is really the basis of everything we do out here and if we do not have leadership than things are just chaotic. So our soldiers just need people who can lead and motivate people when times get tough,” Philips said.

The final piece of advice that Cipriano has for his students is not to get too big ahead when given a leadership position. “I think they have to keep in mind the team concept that just because you’re taking over a leadership position that you sit on the hill and tell people what to do. “

“You are just as involved as the members you are delegating to and be a team player and in order for people to feel like they want to follow you then you have to be willing to get your hands dirty and get involved.”

Registration is still ongoing and if interested, you can sign up in the Student Life Center at the Rollins Building.