Norwich hosts Women’s Leadership Challenge with great success

The admissions office and the alumni-backed Women Kicking Glass partnered to host the Women’s Leadership Challenge on campus from this past weekend, january 26th-28th. 

Over 50 young women from all over New England were in attendance at this event, and they were here to learn about Norwich University as well as the fundamentals of leadership. 

“The ultimate goal of this weekend is to show prospective students around the campus and encourage them to someday attend the school,” said Isabella Dunning, 21, a junior in the Corp of Cadets from Delaware.  

Dunning works with the admissions office and was offered the position of commanding officer for the event, a role that she gladly took.  

“My staff consists of all sorts of Norwich students, from freshman to seniors,” said Dunning, “and the impact that these Norwich cadets will have on these prospective students will not only set a good precedent for females, but will uphold Norwich University’s position as having the highest admission rate of females out of all of the other senior military colleges”.  

In addition to the target demographic for this event being women, most of these young women were high school students looking to pursue a post-secondary education. 

“This event was not only about advertising Norwich University to high school girls, but it is something that helps build comradery and pulls them out of their comfort zones,” said Marissa Gebhart, 21, a junior in the corps from Massachusetts, and the First Sergeant of this weekend’s leadership camp.  

“Yes, it helps with recruiting – but it’s even more important to encourage these young women to learn how to be leaders and take charge in their daily lives”. 

One of the events that was offered during this weekend was a leadership seminar that was hosted by Sharon Hamilton, a former U.S Army Colonel who worked in the intelligence community.  

During this seminar, these prospective students were asked to reflect on personal leadership experience in their lives as well as breaking down & dissecting what qualities make a good leader.  

She also talked about the differences & hardships of being a female leader as opposed to a male leader, and addressed the negative stereotypes of women in leadership roles and how to effectively combat them.  

“These young women need to be able to face the fact that there are sometimes additional hardships that come with being a female leader and that the best way to combat these hardships is unity and forming bonds with other female leaders,” Hamilton said when asked about what kind of impact do these kinds of conversations have on young women and the community at large. 

As a former Army Intelligence officer, Hamilton shared some of her own personal experiences during the seminar and related them back to how presenting yourself as a leader can help you grow as a person and as a part of a team.  

Norwich University prides itself in creating leaders and forming everlasting bonds through adversity, and one of the biggest ways that it does this is by hosting various events like this Leadership Weekend. 

While there have been plenty of events like this in the past, this women’s leadership camp stands out as a testament to Norwich’s dedication to fostering a community of challenge and distinction for people from all walks of life.