NEWS RELEASE

News Bureau . Schofield Hall 201 . Eau Claire, WI 54702
phone: (715) 836-4741
fax: (715) 836-2900

EAU CLAIRE - Nearly 300 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire incoming freshmen will get a "leg up" at the Leadership Institute this summer.

"It's a great way to get off to a good start," said Doug Hallatt, director of UW-Eau Claire's Leadership Institute. "It takes some of the anxiety out of college."

While earning two credits, incoming freshmen will participate in activities designed to help them learn important skills that can be used in their academic and personal lives and beyond into their careers. Each student will get to know the campus, build a network of friends and learn the "Choose Confidence" curriculum, which teaches goal-setting, time management, risk taking, interpersonal communication and assertiveness.

Students are given the opportunity to place trust in others, while learning more about themselves, on a ropes course. The ropes course activities are designed to promote the strength of teamwork and at the same time emphasize the importance of individual contribution. Students also participate in numerous role-playing activities that promote empathetic responses to various life situations.

"The Leadership Institute has taken me from a senior in high school getting ready for college to a prepared incoming freshman at UW-Eau Claire," said Kali Millen, a 2003 incoming freshman from Woodruff.

The Leadership Institute began in 1987 as a gifted and talented program with an enrollment of 50 teenagers. In the summer of 2002 enrollment shifted primarily to incoming freshmen, with 147 in attendance. These students earned an average GPA of 3.1 at UW-Eau Claire the following fall semester. By offering six sessions, each running three days, Hallatt estimates that 285 students will participate in this summer's institute.

"I don't know of any other program like this," said Hallatt, referring to the camps he is affiliated with at UW-Eau Claire, the University of Montana-Missoula, and the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. Hallatt noted that there is leadership training for company employees but rarely is such training offered to college-bound people.
The cost of the institute is $375, which includes tuition, materials and room and board. Funding for the Leadership Institute comes from UW-Eau Claire, participants' fees, and contributions from corporations, foundations and individuals. Scholarships are available.

For more information, contact Hallatt at (715) 836-4364.
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Judy Berthiaume, Director
UW-Eau Claire News Bureau
Schofield 201
(715) 836-4741
newsbur@uwec.edu

Updated: July 15, 2003