LEAD Base Camp Curriculum:

Staying True to Your Core Values in College

 

In every Global LEAD experience, it is our mission to develop leaders, facilitate experiential education, push students out of their comfort zone through adventures and give back to the local community through service. On LEAD Base Camp these four components served as the filter through through which we designed every day of the program. In addition to these four components, the LEAD Base Camp program will dig deeper on the topics of core values, service and life skills.

 

Core Values

 

The LEAD Base Camp curriculum will focus largely on core values and how important values are in life and in leadership. Most people would say that they know their core values and live by them; however, when surrounded by new friends in an unfamiliar  environment, choosing your values can be a challenge.  Global LEAD team members will facilitate daily discussions that help students identify their core values, visualize what it looks like to live by your values and give realistic applications to help students embrace their true self in college. Our goal is that students will leave the program with a greater understanding of themselves, stronger moral courage and the empowerment that comes from choosing your values.

 

Service

 

Service connects people and brings new perspective to life and community. While on LEAD Base Camp, students will spend two days serving at a local school in an impoverished neighborhood. We will restore a classroom in order to give these children a proper learning environment and provide enrichment programs for the students through sports and arts. Our time at the school will not only give students a greater perspective of life in Ecuador, but will help reiterate our discussions on values, leadership, and personal responsibility.

 

Life Skills

 

The final component of the LEAD Base Camp  curriculum equips students with the skills to make the most of their collegiate experience. They will have the chance to learn about college life firsthand from current undergraduate students. We’ll begin with a session on finding balance in life through physical, emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual and cultural means.  Every topic about this transition from cooking for yourself to budgeting your finances is fair game in this open dialogue about the challenges and rewards of living on your own.

 

Community Groups

 

On the ground, we will have Community Groups of 6-8 people that serve as a place for more intimate, small group discussions. Each of our Community Groups will be led by a current university student who has been on a Global LEAD program and also grew up in your community. Students will have a chance to gain from the firsthand experience of people who are a just a few years ahead of them in life.

 

The LEAD Base Camp curriculum and workbook make this experience more than an adventure trip and more than a service trip—it allows for authentic reflection and personal growth.