News

Over 150 students, staff and faculty on the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus gathered on Monday, April 4 to celebrate and recognize the contribution, leadership and achievement of students at the 10th annual Student Achievement Reception.

At this year’s SAIL Impact Awards, 15 students received a SAIL Certificate of Completion.

SAIL (Student Advancement In Leadership) is a non-academic opportunity that focuses on engaging students to be active participants in their own leadership development.  By working with professionals, student participating in SAIL develop skills in areas such as career exploration, personal growth, communication and leadership development.

Within two academic years, SAIL participants are required to attend regular meetings, Leadership Training Seminars, complete 30 hours of volunteer work and participate in at least one international or cultural event.  Certificate candidates must complete each of the four modules and develop and present a Leadership Training Seminar in an approved subject area and demonstrate that they have learned the process of program development, delivery and assessment.

Members of SAIL have attended the East Coast Student Leadership Conference and LEAD, have presented conference topics and have placed in the top three spots during a competition against 16 other post-secondary institutions.

SAIL began 10 years ago through the development of Recruitment’s Student Ambassador Club.

“The Student Ambassadors were keen on exploring leadership opportunities and there was no official way to do this.  At the time, our Director of Enrolment Services, Leanne French Munn had introduced the possibility of formalizing our Ambassador Club and incorporating SPIRIT Awards,” said Monica Sani, Student Success Coordinator.

“We have such a great connection with our student leaders, mentors and ambassadors, so we combined the programming to accommodate all of the groups. The first SPIRIT Awards was held in 2006 and the current IMPACT Awards are the same, just renamed to offer consistency between campuses. We’ve been working together to offer a comprehensive program that includes all students, in all programs, in each year of study.”

Monica has been coordinating the program for the past 5 years.

“Every September we welcome new students into the program and the vibe changes from year to year. The energy that the group brings to even the most mundane tasks is inspirational and really keeps me motivated to provide the best programming that I can.”

“It has been an absolute pleasure and I feel lucky every day to work with such exceptional students!  These student leaders not only maximize their potential but offer incredible mentorship to others."

Certificate recipients are as follows:

·                     Gaofu Huang

·                     Deney Augustine Joseph

·                     Connor Fullerton

·                     Nicolas Wentzell

·                     Sarah Gosse

·                     Rakesh Kumar Menapati on behalf of Shanthanu Krishna Kumar

·                     Lingyin Huang

·                     Morgan McNeil

·                     Tyler Jollimore

·                     Kate Dufresne

·                     Abbey Martin

·                     Brittany Carkner

·                     Shanwei Qiu

·                     Arin Douglas