Rob’s Blog 

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been “Blogging” for an entire academic year.  It’s been a great experience, and I looking forward to continuing throughout the summer and into the fall.  The Service Leadership Office is buzzing with end of the year activities.  I’m happy to report that we have a record number of Seniors who have completed the Service Leadership Program, and they’ll receive their Certificate this Monday at our annual awards ceremony.  Look for pictures in the next week or two!

On Saturday, a group of Service Leaders met for our annual Leadership Retreat.  Usually, we go on an overnight retreat, but because of busy schedules we decided to do something different this year.  We all met on Saturday and had student-run training sessions on effective listening skills.   The students did a great job, and everyone who participated seemed to get a lot out of it.  After the training, we all went to eat at a restaurant called Gian-Tony’s here in St. Louis.  We bonded over spaghetti and meatballs!  The day was extremely well organizied and fun.  I’m already looking forward to next year’s retreat.

What a success!  The 3rd Annual John Cook School of Business Service day took place on March 28th, and it was amazing.  Around 250 students, staff, and faculty went to the Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club to paint walls, clean parking lots, and paint murals.  The student coordinators for the event were Patrick Turner and Sam Morr, and they were meticulous with their planning efforts.  In all my years of working on a college campus, I have never seen a large, student-run event go this well.  Bravo!  Below is a picture of the volunteers.

Happy Spring Break.  We are just a few days away from the 3rd Annual John Cook School of Business Service Day, and I’m very excited.  The students organizing this event have done a great job, and everything is coming together well.  Working with very talented young leaders is one of the best parts of my job, and this year has been exceptional.  This Friday, over 300 students, staff, and faculty will go to Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club to paint, clean, landscape, and play with kids.  Look for photos from the day in my next BLOG entry! 

One of the things I’ve enjoyed about St. Louis is the live music scene, both as a performer and as a fan.  There are a bunch of great places to catch local bands and national touring acts.  One of my favorite venues is a place called Lucas School House www.lucasschoolhouse.com located in a very fun area of St. Louis called Soulard.  A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to play there when I opened up for the Candy Coburn Band.  Below is a picture from that night…bad shirt, great gig!

I thought I’d depart from my normal topic today.  Rather than talk about Service Leadership, I’d like to talk about the weather.  My Mom called me this morning from my hometown in Northern Maine to report that they have gotten over 50 inches of snow.  She’s been out on her snowmobile quite a bit, so at least she’s having fun with it.  While I miss home, I definitely don’t miss the shoveling.  I remember when I was a kid, we often had to shovel off our roof for fear of structural damage from the weight of the snow.  I guess St. Louis weather isn’t so bad afterall!  Below is a picture taken from my parents’ front porch:

On Friday, we had a great leadership workshop entitled, “What’s In It For Me? Relating Service Leadership To Your Career.”  We invited three professionals from the St. Louis business community to answer questions about how exprience in Service Leadership can help during the job search process.  The students seemed to have a great time, and everyone I spoke with said they thought the speakers were extremely enlightening.  Below is a picture of Service Leaders chatting during a “get to know you” exercise.

To earn the Leadership Certificate, Service Leaders must attend 24 Leadership Workshops. The workshops always take place on Friday afternoons, so we try to keep them informative, interactive, and fun. Below is a picture of a very cool Service Leader named Noelle Tomassetti getting a prize for being one of the winners in a game of Human Bingo at a recent workshop! Noelle is highly involved in the Service Leadership Program as the Chair of our Student Advisory Board Programming Committee. In her role, she worked extremely hard to make sure that the Annual Christmas Toy Drive was a success, and we’re looking forward to having her work on more programming this semester!

My Christmas break was great!  We ate a lot, visited with family, and Santa Claus brought my daughters brand new purple tricycles.  I’m good and relaxed, and I’m ready for another fun, productive semester in the Service Leadership Certificate Program.  The next few weeks will be busy for us.  We will be creating some new marketing materials, continuing with planning of the Annual John Cook School of Business Service Day, and preparing recognition ceremonies to celebrate those students who are graduating from our program.  The weather outside may be cold, but we are all warming up for a busy semester in Service Leadership!!!

The Annual Business School Toy Drive was a smashing success.  There were close to 800 toys collected for area kids.  What a great day for the Service Leadership Certificate Program.  Below are two Service Leaders having a great time at the Toy Drive Celebration!