NSU isn’t waiting for tomorrow’s leaders to rise on campus. They’re shaping them today.
The Razor’s Edge Leadership Development Program chose 19 of 75 applicants to the program, which launched this fall after three years of planning. Each student lives on campus and serves as a leader in a student organization. Every school year, they receive a $5,500 scholarship, $4,000 toward housing and $500 for the declining balance meal plan.
Terry Morrow, director of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement, said that the program prepares students for leadership positions in their professions. “Employers are asking for self-awareness, project management skills, the ability to work on a team and communication and conflict management. Those types of things are the leadership skills that employers are looking for,” she said.
Morrow said that the Razor’s Edge program develops these skills in the students and builds an engaged campus community.
The program’s curricular requirements include 16 credits in leadership, which will earn the students a certificate in leadership. Each year, students must also complete co-curricular requirements such as involvement and positions in organizations.
Morrow said that students who are not in the program will benefit from the work of the Razor’s Edge leaders.
“It’s important to prepare yourself to be an influence over others,” Morrow said. “We want NSU students to be influencing others in a positive way and making a difference in our world.”
Six weeks into the program, Lindsey Goldstein, freshman education major, is already the freshman delegate for social events and traditions in the Student Events and Activities Board; a member of Hillel, the Jewish student organization; Rotaract, a service organization and Community Action Using Student Empowerment.
Goldstein said that she feels proud to be a part of the program and to live out its motto, which is to learn, to lead, to achieve.
“You can be a leader in so many different ways, even if you don’t have the title,” Goldstein said. “If you’re optimistic and if you have good character traits, then you can lead the group in another way. I think a leader is a good role model. You have to have good role models so you can influence the future of the campus so you’ll have more leaders and get the morale of the school up.”
Another Razor’s Edge leader, Daniel Brookins, freshman business administration major, is the secretary of The Commons Hall Council, is a member of the Christian campus club Ablaze and plans to play intramural racquetball and intramural volleyball.
Brookins said he is honored to be in the program.
“It’s a blessing not only financially but also educationally and, in terms of leadership, because it’s helping me develop into a more effective, better leader,” he said.
Brookins said that he believes the program’s talented leaders will benefit NSU.
“In my view, leadership is a lot about character so you have a lot of leaders who try to lead without character,” he said. “And I think that it’s really important to have leaders with good character.”
Bill Faulkner, Ph.D., assistant dean of student development, teaches a course called Self Leadership as part of Razor’s Edge curricular requirements. He said that he sees the Razor’s Edge leaders around campus and that they really want to make a difference.
“They really have a passion for getting involved and making a difference,” he said.
Faulkner said that the Razor’s Edge program is making NSU known to prospective students nationwide. He said that student leaders are critical not only for student organizations but also for the university as a whole.
“As we try to grow the undergraduate enrollment at the university, these are the students who are going to attract other students to get involved,” he said. “I think that the more and stronger student leadership you have, the more students can influence their experience and really shape the institution to a way that meets not only their needs, but also makes it better for everybody.”
