Laurier’s Brantford campus first Canadian school to host Collegiate Leadership Competition

March 22, 2019
For Immediate Release

Brantford – Postsecondary students from as far away as Alaska will put their leadership skills to the test when Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford campus hosts the Collegiate Leadership Competition (CLC) on March 29 and 30. Slated to take place at Laurier’s Market Square building, this marks the first time a Canadian university will host the CLC.

The CLC curriculum, which has been built into a fourth-year Leadership course at Laurier, teaches students to develop leadership skills and concepts that can be applied across different situations.

Eight teams, including two from Laurier, will compete in several leadership challenges that allow student leaders to apply what they are learning through the CLC curriculum. Teams are scored on their results and processes, including what leadership styles were used and how the team worked together to problem solve.

The challenges range in duration, complexity and learning outcomes, asking that teams use competitive and cooperative skills to find innovative solutions. Past challenges have included forming a free-standing ring from 100 Pringles chips, stacking cups using only an elastic, and navigating blind-folded groups to find objects.

“We are hoping, through the training and curriculum coverage in the class and the competition, that our students will see more concrete connections between the theoretical concepts of academic leadership content and how to apply what they know in a real-world setting,” said Kris Gerhardt, associate professor of Leadership at Laurier. “The CLC is helping us create a practice field so that our students can develop their leadership and followership skills by deliberately practicing a research-based curriculum.”

Laurier’s Brantford campus has been the academic home of leadership education since 2004. The CLC is a way to bring leadership philosophy out of the classroom and to integrate experiential learning for students.

“We always try to look at how to foster, build and acknowledge student leadership in everything we do,” said Adam Lawrence, dean of students at the Brantford campus. “We have an incredible amount of student leaders on campus and many ways for students to get engaged. This is another avenue for students to be engaged from a leadership opportunity, to get course credit and to help magnify leadership skills.”

Laurier has judged and participated in the past three CLCs. The non-profit organization has held its competition in six regions across North America and includes teams from over 88 universities and colleges.

This first-ever Canadian-hosted event is bringing teams from the University of Guelph, University of Western Ontario, Conestoga College, Trent University, Brock University and the University of Alaska. Judges and referees include members from other post-secondary institutions as well as leaders from the Brantford community. The two-day event starts March 29 at Market Square, 1 Market Street, Brantford.