褐木- 4月10日, 2019 – Howard Payne University welcomed more than 200 student representatives to campus in January for the 2019 Christian Association of Student Leaders (CASL) conference. CASL was formed in 1998 by the Texas Baptist universities and is hosted each year by one of those institutions. CASL is designed to develop and strengthen college students in their campus leadership roles and relationships with Christ. This year’s event was coordinated by a student committee organized and assisted by Dr. 马根·邦亚德，负责学生生活的副校长兼学生事务主任.
“Our HPU students did a wonderful job of prayerfully and thoughtfully selecting all the elements of the conference including speakers, 圆桌讨论和研讨会主题, 餐, 活动及时间表,”她说。. “I am very thankful for their hard work and commitment to making decisions that honored God and helped equip their peers for excellence in service. They fulfilled their roles with exceptional enthusiasm and dedication and we had a lot of fun in the process.”
Members of the CASL committee were Keith Baker of Houston; Caleb Kostreva of Clifton, Colorado; Spencer Wolverton of DeSoto; Foga萨那Solomona-Afoa of Pearl City, Hawaii; Sawyer Fisher of Bertram, who served as the conference coordinator; and Emma Reed of Arlington, 这个协会的主席是谁.
“CASL is awesome because it brings people together who do similar things on different campuses and helps them see areas that are the same,艾玛·里德说, 高级家庭研究和盖伊·D. 纽曼荣誉学院专业. 他们可以从类似的奋斗和成功中得到鼓励.”
The CASL conference exists to encour年龄 student leaders to collaborate with one another for the betterment of their campuses. 完成这一任务并非易事——需要一年多的时间, the members of the CASL committee participated in a planning process that required both detailed decision making and big-picture perspective.
“这需要很多东西，”高级社会科学和盖伊·D·斯特列娃(Caleb Kostreva)说. 纽曼荣誉学院专业. “从零食袋开始，我们就计划好了一切, 主要会议将会是什么样子, 对整个会议的日程安排.”
Each member of the committee attended a CASL conference at another institution at least once prior to or during the course of the committee’s planning. Some of the committee members were able to develop friendships with student from other schools through their CASL attendance. 对Sawyer Fisher来说, 高级工商管理专业, this has been an important part of his CASL experience and something he will miss after graduation.
“My favorite part about CASL is that you start building these friendships through the conference,他说. “看到上帝给了他们什么礼物，让他们在国度中使用，真是太酷了. 看到每个校园都在某些方面挣扎也是有益的. CASL的全部意义就是聚在一起，与他人分享想法. 我会想念CASL的——我已经想念它了.”
Foga萨那Solomona-Afoa, 运动训练专业, said attendance at previous CASL conferences also gave insight to the committee’s decision-making process.
“I have been able to attend CASL every year since I was a freshman and every year was a learning opportunity,”她说。. “It was our past experiences that helped us plan out the conference to the smallest details.”
One of the major decisions the committee had to make was what the theme for CASL 2019 would be. 他们选择了“授权”，强调了学生门徒训练的重要性.
“我们强调门徒训练, 因为我们知道很多学校都有优秀的学生领袖, 但在他们毕业后，就没有其他人站出来了,斯宾塞·沃尔弗顿说, 传播学专业. “这就是我们的目标——帮助学生进行有意识的对话, 建立关系并传递信息以支持他人.”
在整个会议期间，学生们能够参与圆桌讨论. This consisted of two individuals from each institution representing specific areas on campus.
“不同的学校能够走到一起，讨论不同的经历,基思·贝克说, 工作室美术专业. “我们可以说，‘嘿，这是个好主意’或者‘我们也在努力解决这个问题’.’ Finding a solution together gives a sense of community, even though we’re from different schools.”
Conference attendees went to breakout sessions where they listened to members of HPU staff speak on topics such as social media us年龄, 自我照顾和毅力. 学生们还听取了客座演讲者Keith Weiser的演讲, pastor of Resonate Church in Washington and Church Planting Catalyst for the Northwest Baptist Convention, who used the theme verse of Philippians 2:3-4 as a foundation for Christ-like leadership, 是什么使其他人能够更好地服务.
“The main sessions and conversations in the roundtable discussions provide awesome opportunities for people to have these eye-opening experiences, 然后把他们学到的东西带回校园,凯莱布·科斯特列娃说.
The committee members also planned a unique and new experience on Friday night that provided an opportunity for the student leaders to participate in service together. 与好撒玛利亚人事工合作, 学生们为空碗项目画碗, an annual event that raises funds to fight hunger and food insecurity both locally and globally.
“Dr. Bunyard said they’ve been talking about doing a service project since CASL was created, 但他们找不到250人参加的项目,艾玛·里德说. “这是第一次实施这样的措施. 人们喜欢我们把它变得非常个人化.”
The CASL committee members expressed pride in their hard work and were grateful for a successful conference.
“It was cool to be able to watch other people get to enjoy the CASL experience and to see all the work and the time that we put into it come to fruition,里德说. “我为我们能够给人们带来的体验感到自豪. We just showed them the family atmosphere that we have at Howard Payne by the way that we took them all in and loved them.”
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Cutline: Senior Emma Reed introduces members of the CASL committee at the 2019 CASL conference hosted by HPU.