Dear Class of 1979, thank you for your continued generous support of Leadership Day, especially during the ongoing pandemic. We are proud to share our Leadership Day offerings with the Class of 1979 below, please click on one of the programs below to experience what the cadets are experiencing and to discover a few limited opportunities to participate in person this year. We look forward to having many more of you back on campus in the fall 2021 when we resume Leadership Day in person.
Freshmen – The School Heroism Activity for Remembrance and Engagement (SHARE)
Sophomores – Sophomore Service
Seniors – Senior Leadership Seminar
(Clicking on these links will direct you to the appropriate part of this Class of 1979 Leadership Day page.)
Freshmen: The School Heroism Activity for Remembrance and Engagement (SHARE)
The School Heroism Activity for Remembrance and Engagement (SHARE) program is designed to serve four groups: cadet freshmen, cadet sophomore team leaders, CGC school psychology graduate students, and Title I elementary students from the Charleston County School District (CCSD).
Due to the pandemic, the cadets and the school children will not meet in-person; instead, the cadets will create and record a lesson that will be shared with CCSD.
The cadet training will begin with a speaker and video presentation that incorporates footage of CCSD school children to introduce cadets to the population that will be receiving the lessons cadets create. The speaker will address the characteristics of heroes, the importance of inclusion and diversity, and the climate/history of the greater Charleston community. This sets a foundation for the freshmen who will spend the next four years being a part of the Charleston community.
The modified SHARE activity (without CCSD students) will be conducted in-person on two Saturdays (dates TBD, Spring 2021), half of the freshmen cadet companies coming together on one of the two Saturdays. Cadets will work in groups of 10-15 with faculty/staff/graduate student facilitators. Some teams will each be assigned a heroic characteristic and a hero who represents that characteristic, those Cadet teams will work to design and record a lesson for elementary children. Other teams will work with a curated piece of Mary White’s artwork to record a lesson about the heroic stories of veterans for middle and high school students.
Unfortunately we do not envision a way for alumni to plug into the programming this year, but hopefully again in the near future.
Sophomores: Sophomore Service
Leadership Day is being divided into 4 dates this year. 14-Nov & 21-Nov teams of Sophomore students will be dispatched into the local Charleston community (similar to past years on a smaller scale). Two battalions will be able to sign up and go serve on each of the two November dates. The remaining group of Sophomores will be invited to be SHARE Team Leaders for the two Freshmen LD dates in the Spring.
Alumni have two opportunities to engage with the sophomore programming this year.
- Assist with de-briefing students upon return from service (this will be done virtually via Zoom). More details on times and specific instructions to come. This option is available on both 14-Nov & 21-Nov. Contact Col Mercado if interested.
- Join a service team to volunteer with the students (in person). This option is available on both 14-Nov & 21-Nov. Service sites will be in the general Charleston area and there is a menu of service sites to pick from. Masks will be required. Contact Col Mercado if interested.
Juniors: Ethics Seminar
LDRS 311 is entirely online this year
Dr. Bernard Powers, Interim CEO of the International African American Museum and Professor Emeritus of History at CofC, recorded a speech on character and leadership.
Students watch a presentation by Dr. Goodrich on ethical decision making and character.
Students write an essay that examines a case study and uses ethical theory to analyze the actions described in the case and virtue ethics to examine the role of character in the case.
If you would like to view the LDRS-311 presentation, please email Dr. Grant Goodrich at ggoodric@citadel.edu
To access to videos, ask Col Mercado for the Class of 1979 Leadership Day Private YouTube Channel.
Seniors: LDRS-411 Senior Leadership Seminar
In a normal year, seniors participating in LDRS-411 venture out to professional organizations to experience and reflect upon how other organizations approach core values, leadership and ethics integration.
This year, LDRS-411 is offered asynchronously on Canvas as a window into many different professional worlds, stories, and opportunities to build a vision for a cadet’s professional path after The Citadel and consider how they will carry forward the lessons in leadership, core values, and ethics learned at The Citadel in their careers.
To access to videos, ask Col Mercado for the Class of 1979 Leadership Day Private YouTube Channel.
LDRS-411 a zero-credit hour graduation requirement.
Cadets,
Welcome to LDRS-411.
You likely know that this course is an asynchronous, zero-credit hour graduation requirement that likely feels like a “check in the box” on the way to graduation. Just another hurdle to jump on the way out, right?
Here’s my pitch: LDRS-411 offers you a window into many different professional worlds, stories, and opportunities to build a vision for your own professional path after The Citadel. This course is also an opportunity to solidify how you will carry forward the lessons in leadership, core values, and ethics you’ve learned here at The Citadel. This course can really help you think ahead, even if you already have a job lined up or will be serving in the military and are all set for the next step. Think beyond the horizon – what does your work and personal life look like 5, 10, 15 years from now?
With this virtual iteration of LDRS-411, you can get a look at career paths that could be of interest beyond your upcoming civilian job, graduate school acceptance, or military contract; this comes at no cost other than a few minutes of your time!
The first required video is a 30 minute interview with Citadel Career services.
The second required video is a 60 minute panel of Citadel graduates who are senior leaders from the Class of 1979. These contemporaries of General Walters ’79 have been hugely successful in their private and public sector careers and provide an excellent models to consider for your own career paths.
The optional videos are a half hour each, meaning this course boils down to two hours actively listening and a final paper. You only have to choose one optional video, but many of these interviews are just fascinating and you may watch as many as interest you.
The Final Paper is described in detail in the syllabus.
Mark your calendars and plan ahead, because the deadline for submission is October 30th, 2020, which is also the last date course material will be available.
My contact information is also listed in the syllabus.
Good luck and happy learning,
Maj Ted Fienning, USMCR
LDRS-411 Primary Instructor