It’s fall at Agnes, and that means it’s time to welcome a new crop of Scotties! After move in and orientation, our new siblings are introduced to the SUMMIT curriculum at Agnes through Legacy. I was lucky to be one of the Legacy Leaders this semester, and I’m here to share some snapshots of what that looked like.
The Legacy Leaders arrived on campus about a week before the new students, and went to a big cabin at the Calvin Center to learn about what we would be doing and with whom. We participated in and practiced leading the group activities that the first years would soon do. I had a blast meeting so many Scotties that I felt like I had never seen, and was especially happy to be welcoming Dereika Pinder, the newest addition to the Center for Leadership and Service.
The Legacy Leaders doing the spider web activity, where you hold a ball of yarn, toss it to someone else in the circle, and say something nice to them. At the end, everyone takes their section of yarn and wraps it around their wrist. Photo credit: Honi Migdol
I’m the one with a hat on backwards! Photo credit: Callie Pierce
Back at Agnes, we finished putting (so many) name tags together and making sure we had everything we needed to facilitate group activities. Quite a few of us also helped with move in day and orientation! Then, on August 26, it was time to meet them.
A bunch of new Scotties in Presser Hall! Photo credit: Peyton Capehart
Walking to their first meeting. Photo credit: Callie Pierce
The chalkboard in my group’s room!
My co-leader, Morgan, and I were both new to being Legacy Leaders, and were nervous about it. However, we found that we worked really well to us and our Legacy group quickly engaged with the material we presented them with.
This is the group contract for group 8! Many Agnes Scott events include group contracts, which members are expected to adhere to to facilitate constructive discussion.
A main component of legacy is leadership — both developing leader styles and understanding language about leading. For all of the incoming Scotties (starting in 2016), this includes taking the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment, which reports the top five (of 34) leadership talents an individual possesses. At Legacy, the students discuss their results in large groups before breaking into smaller ones to do activities designed to highlight different forms of leadership.
All of the firsties in Evans Dining Hall! Photo credit: Katie Curtin
Discussing strengths. Photo credit: Peyton Capehart
My group! They had to line themselves up by name without speaking.
The next day, we all met as a big group in the gym to do an activity where you lifted up a light if you identified with a statement (such as “I’m a Southerner” or “I’m nervous about school”) so that everyone could see what they had in common with their fellow Scotties.
Photo credit: Katie Curtin
We then all hopped on busses to visit the National Center for Civil and Human Rights (where we discussed civil rights leaders and the areas where leadership was needed) and the World of Coke (where there was discussion but also a lot of sugar consumption). This trip lets our newest Scotties see the ways they can put their leadership in a global context.
On the last day of Legacy, we met once more with our small groups, to recap the experience and close it out with the spider web activity and letters to self.
Spider web!
I had a great time meeting the new Agnes Scott students as a Legacy Leader, and I hope to see them around campus!
Group 8!