The Session after Spring Break

The first session of LTI after the spring break can best be described as a “session of inspiration.”

One featured event of this session was the presentations on inspirational leaders by each of the students. Each student gave a short presentation on leaders that either inspired them, or displayed the characteristics of an effective leader. The people presented on ranged from political figures like Barack Obama, to historic figures like Malcolm X, to family members and famous public figures. Overall the theme of the presentations was to show that effective leaders are those who stand up for what they believe in, take action for their beliefs, and inspire other people to be just as passionate for those beliefs as well. After the presentations were finished suggestions were made for improvements.

In addition to the presentations, this session included a discussion on service by a service panel. The service panel included representatives from Alternative Spring Break (an organization that uses its spring break to do community service around the country), Camp Kesem (an organization that works with the children of cancer patients), and Mobility Lab (an organization that builds wheel chairs from bicycle parts and donates them to needy people in Africa). After the three representatives finished talking about their various organizations, they later answered questions and gave advice to the students for their final projects.

After the service panel’s discussion on service, the meeting ended with a group discussion on student projects, and a variety of games.

Sessions + LTI Final Project Proposals + New Members!

The past couple of weeks have been quite eventful!

One featured event at an LTI session was a blind-folded scavenger hunt. In this event, students split into teams of 3. One served as the blind-folded mover, another as the vocal director, and the final student as the silent direction giver. The silent direction giver would motion with his or her body to the vocal director, who vocalized the first student's commands to the blind-folded mover. Whichever team worked best as a team and collected the most items won the activity!

This past Sunday, March 8th, students presented their final project proposals to the LTI Board of Directors. The final project is a vital part of the LTI curriculum, in which students have the opportunity to give back to their own community in the form of an LTI-funded service project. Proposals included projects aimed at removing graffiti from public areas, implementing an invisible children awareness program, and an education play on alcohol abuse. After initial feedback, students will edit proposals and presentations in time for approved funding and the final presentations at the closing ceremony in May.

Finally, this upcoming Wednesday, March 11th is the monthly LTI General Body Meeting. At this meeting, we are welcoming our five newest executive board members! Three of our newest LTI family will be starting our Expansion committee, which aims at implementing and extending our program and connections to locations in Mexico, China, Brazil, El Salvador, and South Africa. Many updates on LTI's summer program plans to come!