Skills of Leadership - "I was pretty much sold on Southeastern..."
On the home page:
Jordan Leggett of Slidell, Southeastern’s Orientation Leader of the Year, leads a group of students and their parents on a tour of the university on Homecoming day.
Jordan Leggett, Vocal Performance major
When Jordan Leggett attended Southeastern’s Orientation Program as a potential student, he never dreamed he would become an Orientation Leader, let alone be selected Orientation Leader of the Year.
As a student at North Shore High School in Slidell, Leggett was first drawn to Southeastern when a group from his high school was invited to sing on campus.
“As a high school student, I was able to work with some of the faculty one-on-one,” recalled Leggett, a vocal performance major. “They made it very easy to want to learn and strive for greatness. After that, I was pretty much sold on Southeastern.”
 |
|
Jordan Leggett, Vocal Performance Major |
After enjoying his own orientation experience and at the urging of his orientation leaders -- peer leaders of university orientation programs designed to give new students a jump start on their transition to college -- Leggett decided to apply for an orientation leader position and received one his freshman year. As an orientation leader, Leggett enjoys interacting with the students and the myriad of activities, such as spirit competitions.
“All the orientation leaders have strengths that contribute to the team. Mine was definitely spirit and energy,” he said. “I always had fun interacting with everyone else and trying to persuade the students to participate in all the fun activities we had planned.”
Leggett was so successful as an orientation leader that he was selected from more than two dozen Southeastern orientation leaders as the Orientation Leader of the Year and was also honored with a “Spirit of Orientation Award.”
“Spirit awards are given to those few students who truly capture the overall spirit of the program,” said Anthony Ranatza, assistant director of admissions. “They are the ones who display overall outstanding spirit at all times and help promote the Southeastern Spirit.”
“Winning the award was such a tremendous honor,” Leggett said. “Being an orientation leader has been the best experience thus far at Southeastern. I am so glad that I was chosen to be on the team my freshman year, because I have made so many friends and connections that will last beyond this year.”
Leggett cites his experience as an orientation leader with helping hone his speaking skills and increasing his confidence. In fact, proof of Leggett’s success as an orientation leader lies in his being selected for a second consecutive year.
“Being an orientation leader taught me to lead a big group. I was a president and held other offices of different groups in high school, but they were very small groups,” he said. “To go from that to leading a big group where I knew no one, had to be the face of Southeastern and persuade students to come here, that made me feel comfortable and more confident in my speaking skills and knowledge of Southeastern.”
Leggett hopes to take his experiences as a vocal performance student and as an orientation leader on the road some day in the performing circle. He aspires to perform throughout the country.
“I would like to perform out of state so I can broaden my horizons a bit,” he said. “If the opportunity presents itself, I would love to go to New York, California, or Chicago to perform.”
More Homepage Stories...
