High school students from across the state of Louisiana received leadership training from presenters and university alumni at the second annual “EvolveU” conference.

The leadership training was held at the Student Union Ballroom on March 15 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Attendees were educated on topics such as collaboration techniques, communication, achieving balance and leadership coaching.

According to Marjorie Parker, coordinator for the conference, approximately 200 students from 19 high schools were present.

“We asked the schools to pick their top 20 leaders, and they’re bringing them in groups,” explained Parker. “But some students may be homeschooled or their counselors couldn’t put it together or they didn’t only have so much interest, so they could come on their own.”

2017 Southeastern alumnus Myranda Triche presented for the high school students. She believes that the conference helps students to get the experience of campus environment.

“The most valuable experience for students, when they come, they get to see what it’s like on a college campus, and they get to build relationships and meet students who are leaders in college, outside of college and learning tips, tricks, facts that they can take home to their schools, to their college, to their jobs and just to their lives in general,” shared Triche.

The conference was valuable not only to the attendees but also to the presenter.

“The most valuable part for me is to impact, influence the generations that are after me,” shared Triche. “Influencing them and equipping them with experiences and knowledge about leadership that I’ve been through, that I’ve learned and that I’m still learning today.”

Parker would like more such conference held in the future. She shared how upcoming conferences can be made more impactful.

Parker said, “Maybe seeing some of our students actually come to Southeastern, some of the participants at ‘EvolveU’ come to Southeastern and say, ‘I came to this conference and because of this conference I came to Southeastern.’ So, we really want to leave a lasting impact on them.”