The University of Northern Colorado Leaders Program held a
summit for Colorado students on November 2 through November 3 with the theme of
“empathy empowered”. Derrick Gallegos (Pre-Med, 2016) attended the summit and
the program housed him, along with other students, at the Embassy Hotel. The
keynote speaker, Mark Elliot, spoke about how he got over various illnesses and
the importance of accepting yourself and others.
The summit was composed by different sections and Derrick
chose to focus on enterprise. Most of the enterprise sessions revolved around
the importance of business empathy and caring about the environment.
“I enjoyed learning about myself and leadership,” Derrick
said. “It makes you think about things you don’t normally think about.”
One of topic that came up consistently was treatment of
employees. The idea is that empathy toward employees encourages them to work
harder. One of the speakers on the subject was a speech pathologist who cares
for her employees. As the only UHL and non-UNC student to attend the summit,
Derrick has these words for his fellow UHLers about leadership events:
“More people should go!”