Collaboration helps Ohio State students develop leadership skills

COLUMBUS – Members of the corporate community are teaming up with student organizers of the African American Heritage Festival as part of a mentoring and leadership development program sponsored by Bank One Corp.

The Bank One: Leading Development in our Community (BOLD) program, which began this year, helps students improve individual and collaborative leadership skills and teaches them how to use those skills to effect organizational and social change.

Nine professionals from Bank One, seven Ohio State staff members, a member of the broadcasting community and 15 Ohio State students are taking part in the first mentoring program.

Margaret Finley, support analyst for Bank One’s National Enterprise Operations Items Processing and member of the Heritage Festival planning committee, is a mentor to four students. She said students were given the opportunity to review the professionals’ biographies and select their mentors.

”The BOLD program is an entry to the working world for these students,” Finley said. ”We want to give them a corporate flavor of what the expectations are in the working world. The students in this program are honing skills that eventually can be used in the business sector.”

Finley also said the students’ participation in organizing an event the size of the Heritage Festival is an important part of the experience. ”The program is a benefit to students because we put great expectations on them to show what it takes to pull off an event of this magnitude,” she said.

The undergraduate students at Ohio State were selected for the program after an application and interview process. The students are required to attend classes on leadership and professional skills and work one-on-one with their mentors.

Leah Stone, a senior in marketing and international business and marketing chair for the festival, is one of the student mentees. She said the experience has been valuable.

”Learning these leadership skills will help me in all walks of life,” Stone said. ”The BOLD program is a benefit because I have some control over the project and my input is considered valuable.”

Stone said her mentor is working with her on recording public service announcements (PSAs) for the festival. She said she is grateful for this experience.

”The program is beneficial because it allows the student chairs of the festival sources to turn to for advice,” Stone said. ”It also is a great networking experience.”

Marcus Ross, director of community relations for the Ohio State College Bound program, also is a BOLD mentor. From his experiences as a student, Ross understands the importance of getting involved in campus life.

”One of the things I am trying to do is to help the students nurture and cultivate their career interests,” Ross said. ”I was actively involved on campus when I was a student and I think these experiences helped train me for my professional career.”

As a former assistant city prosecutor, Ross is using his connections to help his student mentee find experts for the festival’s Town Square Meeting on Monday, May 13.

Ashley Allison, a sophomore journalism major, is the student who is working with Ross to locate experts who can speak about issues affecting African Americans today. She said she has enjoyed being involved in this program.

”The BOLD program has connected me to the outside world,” Allison said. ”It has made me reach out to different places. Even though I already consider myself to be a student leader, these activities have allowed me to become more career-oriented.”

The BOLD program stems from a collaborative relationship between Bank One and Ohio State that began during the 2001 Heritage Festival, said Rebecca Parker, a project manager for Bank One.

Parker designed the BOLD program for Bank One while she was employed as Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at Ohio State. Parker, who served as the chair of last year’s Program Core Committee for the Heritage Festival, said the intent of the program is to teach students skills that are important for their futures.

”The program is designed to get students more involved in the festival and to teach them leadership and planning skills,” Parker said. ”I think it takes a great deal of leadership and communications skills to be able to put this event together. It crosses community boundaries and sometimes the needs of individual groups compete. The idea of the BOLD program is to give students an exposure to different leadership styles and organizational structures that will help them in the future.”

For more information, see http://www.osuheritagefestival.com