The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 37, No. 2 - 63

Leadership and Alumni

participant commented, “I feel like a big struggle for me . . . was learning that other people were good at what they did, and therefore could help in ways that I wasn’t as good at.” Others shared similar sentiments.

Sense of a broader community. Another
value many participants had developed and refined through their participation in residence hall governments was the connection to a larger community—whether that meant the residence hall specifically, the overall campus, or the community in which the university was situated. One participant who was involved as a community service chair in her organization recalled her activities in hall government: “[The off-campus programs we did] made me feel not just a part of the university community through my [government] experience, but part of the larger local community as well.” Her perspective evolved through long-term participa-

tion in annual community service events with the same agencies. The same participant later explained, “We had developed a year-after-year relationship with the same people, and after a while, knew their stuff—their issues, what they struggled with.”

One participant . . . stated, “I would still have the same values, but I don’t think I would be able to act on the values. I think that’s something that I learned— —how to put them into action.” This increasing sophistication in the practice of one’s values as a result of engaging in leadership has been found in a variety of studies .

Value reinforcement. While some participants spoke about acquiring new values, many others discussed how values already in place were tested, stretched, and strengthened by engagement with community council programs, activities, and meetings. One participant mentioned, “I don’t know if my values changed, but they were definitely reinforced.” Another used the word “enhanced” when talking about how his values shifted over the course of his involvement in community councils. Perhaps most importantly, through the practice of teamwork and leadership in their councils, these participants learned how to put their values in action and to lead in a style more congruent with their personal values. One participant, summing up this point, stated, “I would still have the same values, but I don’t think I would be able to act on the values. I think that’s something that I learned—how to put them into action.” This increasing sophistication in the practice of one’s values as a result of engaging in leadership has been found in a variety of studies (Cress et al., 2001; Flowers, 2004; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005).

Institutional Catalysts
The term institutional catalysts, in this study, refers to the types of external variables that the participants identified as supporting their growth and learning that were specifically tied to how the institution structured the experience for hall government students. Participants
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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 37, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 37, No. 2