Confidence to Succeed

The newest cohort of the Ted Bauer Leadership Certificate Program (TBLCP) is starting the summer with heightened professional skills after more than 100 students recently graduated from the program.

The program is part of Bauer College’s HUB for Student Success and supported by the C. T. Bauer Foundation. Student participants meet with their cohort weekly throughout the academic year. Along with developing lasting relationships, the program lays out a foundation for leadership that students can build on for years to come.

While the workshops emphasize CliftonStrengths, teamwork and professionalism, Program Manager for Leadership Initiatives Becca Davis said there’s one skill that students frequently credit TBLCP for helping them with.

“One of the pillars of our curriculum is giving different opportunities for individual and group public speaking,” Davis said. “I've heard feedback from students saying they feel more confident and comfortable with speaking in front of large groups after the workshops.”

That pillar is what drew accounting junior Trang Hoang to apply for the program. She shared that experiencing TBLCP gave her assurance that she could start her own student organization, Society of Decision Professionals.

“I gained courage and the confidence to do hard things,” Hoang said. “I learned how to better communicate with others and the public.”

Joining workshops virtually, accounting and management information systems junior Kshitij Bahri grew from TBLCP’s programming without having to commute to campus.

The accessibility gave Bahri the ability to attend every workshop, but he also was able to meet his peers in person at TBLCP social events.

“It definitely got me out of my shell, so I'm grateful for that,” he said. “COVID took away some of our skills for how to interact with people, so it was great to get back in the environment to talk to people and have meaningful conversations.”

The CliftonStrengths component of the program is what resonated the most with management information systems junior Zachary Saenz. Upon receiving his certificate, Saenz believes he is better equipped to take on real-world challenges.

“Some of the aspects that encouraged me to join TBLCP were the opportunities to build self-awareness to improve what I already know and to find new ways to apply the skills from the program,” Saenz said.

Learn more about TBLCP here.