Assembled from the most essential roles of student leadership on campus, forerunners for the future of Kean gathered within the "Diamond" room, some faces rather familiar, but most unrecognizable. It is here they eyed the elaborate chandeliers that would become an ongoing joke of the October 30 to November 1 weekend. This room, this space for transformation, would serve as the ground where the student leaders of Kean University unite to tackle the same goal - having a shared vision and communicating that change. The 70 leaders in attendance stemmed from student government, funded and non-funded groups, Greek life, the Center for Leadership and Service, admission, Student Affairs Department and so many other councils and organizations that make up the student involvement of Kean University. Together, these ordinary people, with several dedicated and energetic faculty, compounded the Student Organization and Student Affairs sponsored 2009 Leadership Retreat in hopes to achieve extra-ordinary things. As in previous years, this year's Leadership Retreat featured distinguished speakers to help shape the role of leader that the students play. Through workshops and role play, urgency for student connection was advocated. Among the speaker's whose message encouraged that togetherness the most was that of Tom Krieglstein. Krieglstein, as a speaker aimed to increase student interaction and engagement, is a decorated recipient of the 2007, 2008, and 2009 Best campus Speaker of the Year awards. To best demonstrate the degrees of social connection, Krieglstein showed the group his "Dance Floor Theory" as a model. By engaging the student leaders in an impromptu dance, he was able to freeze-frame the group and identify which participants were highly engaged and which were neutral, which he represented as "meh" students. As standing models for the experiment, Sheirka Bagot, sophomore biology major, and Brian Dowling, freshman undecided major, entertained the audience as they put forth humorous caricatures of their "social roles". The focus of this workshop was to teach strategic methods for getting the "meh's" to become "hmm's..." - a pneumonic device representative of students becoming interested even on a small scale.

In addition to his "Dance Floor Theory" workshop, Krieglstein discussed essential tips that every leader should be aware of as both a student and a member of a team. One of the concerns discussed that effect student groups, whether funded or not, is how a shortage of money can often drown out ideas that some leaders may have. Krieglstein pointed out that what matters in an event is not the quality put into creating it, but rather the quality of the results received from it. To demonstrate, Krieglstein showed the group a series of videos of events called "flash mobs". The videos awed the crowd, psyching them up with anticipation for their own chance at an inexpensive, yet dynamic event. For some students, waiting till their return to campus was to long of a wait. Alex Petino, a senior sociology major, beamed as he recalled, "it was cool going up to the countrymen at the bar with our 'Free Hugs' signs and making fun conversation." He acknowledges his disbelief, "I can't believe it actually worked. They were so open with us."

In company with Tom Krieglstein was the weekend's key speaker, Jonathan Sprinkles. As the celebrated 2006 Speaker of the Year recipient, Sprinkles has made a name for himself around corporations and campuses alike. Having graced Kean University students ten times in the past four years, Sprinkles pronounced continuously throughout the retreat weekend that Kean students are his favorite to speak for. From the moment the student leaders arrived, Sprinkles energy was high and he demanded a reciprocated intensity. Despite taking center stage almost instantly, Sprinkles described himself as "just a messenger" and among the first advice in his delivery were the words, "You can not lead others, until you first lead yourself."

For Sprinkles, identification of the self was the first task to accomplish. In a workshop entitled "True Colors", Sprinkles surveyed the student leader's likes, interests, and priorities to distinguish a specific "color", or style, of leadership they were acquainted with. By doing this, students were able to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Grace Adeyinka, a junior elementary education major and sister of Lambda Tau Omega Inc., reflects on her personal gain from Sprinkle's workshop stating, "True Colors was the best part for me, because I didn't know what kind of leader I was. It brought everything to light. I want to bring this all back to my sorority; there can be nothing but growth from this."

Once Sprinkles was able to help the students identify their specific style of leadership, he then stressed the techniques that should follow their vision. Students voiced their concerns and Sprinkles applied his techniques to help aid the more troublesome areas. Student motivation, group membership retention, idea criticism and support, and prioritizing were just some of the issues that seem to affect the ardent leaders. A reoccurring theme within his techniques was the open-mindedness that all leaders should possess as well as the way to lead by stepping off to the side. As Sprinkles insisted to one particularly overwhelmed audience member, "You build your own strengths and delegate the rest."

As an added bonus to the already renowned cast of speakers in attendance, Dr. Dawood Farahi joined the students at the retreat for a spirited and motivational speech of his own. After sharing his own personal story of success through hardship, Dr. Farahi conveyed his five tools that each student passionate about their own success should utilize. To have a long-term dream, a visionary theme, a co-operative team, a tactful scheme, and focus above all was the schematic illustration of Farahi's message. With all the new additions to Kean, Dr. Farahi was able put his entire message into a tangible, successful practice. He ended his speech the same way he began, by acknowledging his pride in his student leaders and the confidence he has in their success.

With a final task for the student group, leaders were asked to take the floor under their control and demonstrate one concept or strategy they learned. The groups were encouraged to be creative, informative, confident, and ultimately utilize each member as an efficient, functional organism of the whole. Through skits, dance, and even poetry, each group paid homage to the weekend in their own unique way. Sprinkles and faculty plumed in sheer honor with the performances. Shortly after the last performance, the weekend drew to a close, but not before the group embraced each other for a final pledge and notion of admiration for each other's company. With tears, hugs, and genuine smiles, each leader made their promise to utilize each other and bring what they had learned back to campus. Perhaps then, should students find significant and advantageous change in their respective groups, may they attribute it to the shared vision and collective oath of the students from the 2009 Leadership Retreat.