The Hostos Student Leadership Academy

The Student Leadership Academy works to promote the promising talents of individual student leaders through civic-minded activities, community service, cultural influx, and developmental leadership training. The goal of the Academy is to promote leadership as a skill necessary to every person and to be utilized in every aspect of one’s life. Student Leadership Academy members and alumni truly embody the spirit of Hostos Community College’s namesake. Academy members come from every continent. They develop advanced leadership abilities while honing their individual and collective talents, broadening their world views, and learning to devote their heads, hands, and hearts to acts of voluntary service in their local, regional, and world communities.

The Leadership Academy creates and coordinates college-wide academic and co-curricular activities that prepare students to be effective global citizens who are engaged in transforming their communities through scholarship, work, and volunteer service. Taking into account the diverse backgrounds of Hostos students, the Leadership Academy offers multiple access points. Students may have a formal relationship with the Academy by enrolling in one of its four programs: The Student Ambassador Program, the Students Orientation Services (SOS) Team Program, the Hostos Emerging Leaders Program, or the Volunteer Corps. They may also choose a less formal relationship with the Academy by participating in programs offered to the entire Hostos student body; such as the Winter Workshop Series, a Scholarship Orientation, or a Monthly Leadership Forum.

The Leadership Academy works in coordination with the Student Government Association, the Honors Society, the Honors Program, and other campus groups, clubs, and organizations, as well as within the academic disciplines, to develop leadership initiatives and host workshops and training sessions to promote leadership techniques and ideals for the larger Hostos community. The Hostos Leadership Academy also works in coordination with the Ernesto Malave CUNY Leadership Academy to routinely enhance and develop programming and activities for students throughout the CUNY system and on other CUNY campuses.

Members of the Academy meet weekly for the Friday Ambassador Workshop Series and the Student Leadership Academy Film Series. They also participate in annual retreats; which include challenge courses, rock climbing, team building activities, and a high ropes course as well as numerous conferences, including the National Model United Nations-D.C., the National Character and Leadership Symposium at the Air Force Academy, and many others. Members also commit themselves to do volunteer work in the community between 16 and 40 hours a semester.

Hostos Student Ambassador Program

• Ambassadors are required to maintain a GPA of 3.25 or higher and take six or more credits each semester.

• Each Ambassador commits to one year of service and agrees to serve 40 hours of volunteer or community service each semester that they are in the Academy.

• Ambassadors are the first line of students utilized as a resource of Hostos, CUNY, and the Bronx. They attend local, regional and national conferences, give testimony at hearings, and support the administration and CUNY Central at a variety of events and locales.

• Student Ambassadors also provide mentorship and support, do community outreach and plan and implement community service activities for the larger group of members.

• In order to become a student ambassador, you must go through a rigorous interview process and provide letters of recommendation, a resume, and documentation of unique and service-oriented activities that you have been a part of in your life.

• The Student Leadership Advisory Council provides guidance and support to the members of the Academy and takes on a mentorship role with individual students throughout their stay at Hostos Community College. (Members of the Student Leadership Advisory Council are made up of faculty, staff, alumni, and the Student Leadership Coordinator.)

• The Hostos Student Ambassadors receive specialized training in workshops specifically designed for their needs on Fridays from 3:30 to 5:30 PM. Workshops are provided in debate, public speaking, voice and diction, team-building, ethical decision making, dining and business etiquette, fundamental leadership skills, character development, time management, parliamentary procedure, effective mentorship, writing skills, and job skills preparation. In addition, winter and summer workshops are offered to help enhance

the skills of the members of the Academy.

*Workshops are mandatory for Hostos Student Ambassadors and are open to participation by SOS Team Members and the Hostos Emerging Leaders Program.

**The Academy also offers a weekly Leadership Film Series for all students at the college. (Academy members host the weekly Wednesday night event from 6-9 PM.)

Student Orientation Services Team (SOS)

• SOS Team Members have a GPA of 2.8 or higher and are required to be registered for at least six credits per semester.

• An SOS Team Member commits to one year of service and makes a generous commitment of 24 hours to provide support to students during registration, orientations, college tours, campus visits and job fairs, (amongst other things.)

• The SOS Team is currently a feeder group for the Hostos Student Ambassador Program and if after a semester of service an SOS Team Member shows a great commitment to service and maintains or improves their GPA they can be promoted through a tier system into the Hostos Student Ambassador Program.

• The SOS Team receives specialized team-building training in workshops specially designed for them. They also receive a toolkit that will help them to produce results as a team player. Team Training Workshops are mandatory for SOS Team Members and are open to participation by any other member of the Academy that would like to participate.

Emerging Leaders Program

• There is no GPA requirement for recruits who participate in the Emerging Leaders Program. The program is open to any student who attends classes at Hostos Community College; including students in the CUNY Language Emersion Program and the CUNY Start Program.

• A Hostos Emerging Leader Program member commits to one semester of service at a time and makes a generous commitment of 16 hours to volunteering and community service.

• The initiative is to provide students, who may want to participate in doing community service activities or may benefit from receiving special training, with the opportunity to do so, without overwhelming them in their efforts to work to improve themselves academically.

• The hope is that by giving students who have struggled the opportunity to participate in specialized programming, they may be more inclined to be active on campus, may receive unique mentoring from Ambassadors or SOS Team Members, and can grow and develop into valuable assets to the college community as well as improving themselves academically.

• The Emerging Leaders Program represent a third tier in Hostos Leadership Academy’s Membership and members of this group will be eligible for promotion into the SOS Team or Hostos Student Ambassador Program, based upon meeting or exceeding their GPA and volunteer service criteria.

Hostos Community College Volunteer Corps

Make a difference by being the difference

• Have you ever felt that there was more to do than just go about your daily routine?

• Ever wondered how it might feel to help a stranger in need?

• Have you ever volunteered before with your religious organization, school, or neighborhood organization? Want to make a difference today?

• Are you interested in serving the community or volunteering on the Hostos campus?

Whether you have a specific idea in mind or you are simply searching for a way to be active in the community and get involved, we would love to have you participate!

Stop in at the Hostos Student Leadership Office in room C-392 to pick up, fill out and hand in a completed Volunteer Interest Form.

Students interested in working with the Hostos Student Leadership Academy can do so by signing up with the Financial Aid Office or CUNY Edge Program to participate in the Services on Site Team, which distributes information about college and university events from the Student Government Association Information Booth, which is open five days a week.

For more information, contact,
Jason Libfeld
East Academic Complex, Room C-392
Telephone: (718) 518-6541
E-mail: jlibfeld@hostos.cuny.edu
Or StudentLeadershipAcademy@hostos.cuny.edu