Learning Leadership

by Travis Rocha

It was a very interesting and engaging week in my Leadership Through the Agesclass. We submitted our first essay before fall break, and so now we returned to class to receive our feedback and learn more about the great leaders from the past.

Throughout the semester, we have learned about Marcus Aurelius, Catherine the Great, George Washington and now Napoleon Bonaparte. Being a part of the President’s Leadership Program, I assumed I would learn plenty about leaders, but had no idea to what extent. As a student of leadership, everyday I learn more about what it takes to be a leader and how acclaimed leaders from history made their mark on the world. It’s always an exciting day in leadership class because every word taught has an immense historical value on the world we live in today.

Leadership is a difficult thing to teach. It’s an amalgamation of first-hand experiences, textbook theories and countless more little things that form a great leader. Christopher Newport’s Leadership Through the Ages course mainly focuses on the factual elements, emphasizing historical examples through lecture. I find the class so interesting because it directly applies to how we might be leaders in our everyday lives. I can personally attest to the importance of what is learned on a daily basis. It’s great to study the theory, but by researching examples from real life we’re able to directly examine the impact of leadership. It’s much more than your average by-the-books course, it encourages application of theory as well as simply learning the basics of the subject. Christopher Newport classes always go the extra mile, and leadership is no exception.