Hi everyone!

This past weekend I attended the Iowa Student Leadership Experience hosted at the University of Northern Iowa. Students from Iowa State, UNI, and Iowa were invited to attend, and all expenses were paid. I went solo, with the intention of making friends and exploring a part of Iowa I hadn’t seen since I was out of state.

The bus ended up not coming to pick us up due to miscommunication, so the fifty people who planned to attend did not. Me and three other students ended up carpooling and we were the four to represent Iowa there.

The conference was great! There were a few guest speakers, breakfast and lunch were provided, and we had breakout rooms to choose from. The speakers were very well-spoken and I learned a lot about what it takes to be a good leader. Most students came representing organizations they are involved in on campus and left knowing how to better the leadership for them.

We got to try a new Coca-Cola product, a spiced cola which basically tasted like root beer. Delicious!

We also got free swag like shirts, pens, notebooks, and Linq, a business card that activates via the app. It was fun meeting students from other universities and we were all eager to connect.

I left the conference with three new friends and some amazing connections from that day. Hopefully, next year’s conference goes smoothly, and definitely attend!

-Solenn