Assistant Professor Cara McFadden, Emily Bourke ’16 and Katie Dalton ’16 traveled to the United Way headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, to participate in a gathering of student leaders, United Way staff and university advisers.
Two students and one faculty member of the School of Communications attended the Student United Way Leadership Retreat Sept. 11-13 at the United Way headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The annual gathering of student leaders, United Way staff and university advisers provided students with an opportunity to enhance leadership skills, forge lasting relationships, and discover their potential to create positive change in their communities.
Sport and event management major Emily Bourke ’16 and strategic communications major Katie Dalton ’16, members of the Student United Way chapter at Elon University, attended the leadership retreat accompanied by Cara McFadden, an assistant professor in the Sport and Event Management Department. McFadden serves as the chapter’s faculty adviser.
Elon’s Student United Way (SUW) chapter was recently recognized as a service organization by the campus’ Student Life Committee and is registered as an official student chapter with United Way Worldwide, according to McFadden. While the Elon chapter is a new edition to campus, students have been garnering interest of the organization for some time.
“Seniors Katie Dalton, Patricia ‘Katie’ Beech and Emily Bourke have been working diligently for a couple years to create a Student United Way chapter at Elon University. We are excited to announce we will be the first SUW chapter from a private university in the state of North Carolina officially registered with United Way Worldwide,” said McFadden. Beech, a sport and event management major studying abroad this semester, was unable to attend the retreat.
The student chapter will work directly with the staff at the local United Way office, United Way of Alamance County, to support the community in areas of need around health, education and income.