LeaderShape 2008

Whenever I see a KU bus, I can't help but feel proud. It used to be that this sense of pride came from my experience helping KU build a new identity system, standardizing colors, logos and whatnot. I was even asked to be on hand to approve the paint color on the first bus when it was made. Now that I've attended LeaderShape, I see KU buses in a whole new way.

On Day 1, these big blue buses dropped off some 60 wide-eyed students to experience LeaderShape, an immersive 6-day leadership camp, for lack of a better description.

By week's end, the group had developed incredibly close relationships through a variety of team-building and vision-sharing exercises. They left the camp with great optimism and enthusiasm, and I'm confident that each one will become a powerful leader in his or her community, engaging others to create positive change. Watching them board the big blue KU buses, I felt pretty good about the things they were going off to accomplish.

So today, my perspective is changed. When I saw a KU bus on campus this morning, I couldn't help but think of the potential inside- the potential I witnessed at LeaderShape- the potential that exists at a place like KU and inside all of us. Now when I see a KU bus, I know those people are going places.