In case of emergency, Ithaca College students learned how to solve roadside crises. During an election year, students learned how to register to vote. To prepare for the unexpected, students learned what to do in an emergency situation. From Feb. 19–23, the Student Leadership Institute helped students prepare for the world beyond South Hill.

Organized by the Office of Student Engagement, the Student Leadership Institute (SLI) provided workshops to build students’ leadership and life skills. Any student can attend an SLI at no cost. SLIs are often organized in collaboration with other groups and programs on campus. Earlier this semester, the Office of Student Engagement provided a workshop on alcohol safety — co-hosted by the Center for Health Promotion — and a healthy queer relationships workshop co-hosted by the LGBTQ center. 

The college offered a triple-header of life skills workshops, organized by the Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management and Student Affairs and Campus Life, on emergency preparedness, voter registration and car basics. 

Samm Swarts, assistant director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, led a seminar on emergency preparedness Feb. 19, which taught five students how to react in the event of crises ranging from active threats to hazardous weather.

“A lot of the things that I talked about today could apply to a variety of emergency situations,” Swarts said, who walked through several emergency scenarios using the Taughannock Falls room in Campus Center as a stage for his examples. 

For one of these examples, Swarts demonstrated how to barricade the doors of the room to prevent an intruder. 

“We’re, unfortunately, constantly bombarded in the news by terrible situations of violence,” Swarts said. “A lot of our students are coming from a generation where they’ve had this taught to them at such early ages and all the way up until now.”

Swarts said he gives that same emergency preparedness presentation close to 30 times a year and is not the only public safety member trying to prepare students for unexpected dangers. Sergeant Bryan Verzosa led the “Car Basics” SLI, aided by Patrol Officer Alex Hitchcock and members of Ithaca College’s Patrol and Security Services on Feb. 21.

Surrounded by 10 students, Verzosa deciphered the confusing bundle of pipes and labels under the hood of a Chevy sedan parked next to Campus Center. Verzosa also demonstrated how to check oil and tire pressure and how to jump a car battery. It was Verzosa’s first time leading an SLI, and he described the experience as “awesome.”

“As long as they can take away the very basics of all this — like what to have in the car just to help out during a snowstorm — that was my goal,” Verzosa said. “Just that little bit of knowledge … before actually having to experience that firsthand on a roadside … I think is very beneficial.”

Hitchcock provided students with a list of potentially life-saving items to keep in their cars. 

“When I was growing up, my father actually gave me the checklist that I handed out to everyone,” Hitchcock said. “He informed me I was not able to drive until I had the items on that checklist.”

Sophomore Sasha Culver said she feels more confident as a car owner after attending the “Car Basics” SLI and staying after to learn more from Verzosa and his team.

“It was very shocking and a little scary how much I didn’t know about my car,” Culver said. “You need windshield fluid or something? I’ve never heard of that before.”

Culver said she has attended several other SLIs, including Swarts’ “Emergency Preparedness” workshop. 

“I do really like the ‘Leading Self’ SLIs,” Culver said. “I went to the ‘Emergency Preparedness’ one last year and it was very necessary.” 

All the presenters expressed a desire to share vital life skills with students. Hitchcock was happy to share the advice he was raised on. 

“I got into this position because I wanted to help people and I think this is a direct way for me to take some knowledge that I personally have and use it as a strength to teach others,” Hitchcock said.

Hosted by Student Affairs and Campus Life on Feb. 20, “Be Vote Ready!” introduced students to online resources that can help them access mail-in ballots and keep track of important election dates in their home state.

The workshop was hosted by Doreen Hettich-Atkins, executive director of Student Affairs and Campus Life, who said she hoped students would leave the workshop feeling prepared for this year’s presidential election. 

“Most of you, this is the first time you will ever vote in a presidential election and possibly any election,” Hettich-Atkins said. “It’s complicated and confusing, so we thought doing a few presentations would help students get a little more comfortable.”

Hettich-Atkins recommended vote.org and studentvote.org to help students access vital information about their home states’ primary elections.

Senior Fabi Alvarado Berrios, a theatre production and design major, said she has attended several SLIs at the college, including the “Be Vote Ready!” workshop.

“I’ve learned so much about leadership, about myself, my communication skills, my hard skills,” Alvarado Berrios said 

She said she plans to take advantage of the resources Hettich-Atkins recommended after graduating from the college.

“I’m going to move out of Ithaca,” Alvarado Berrios said. “So I need to figure out where I’m going to get settled and vote. I’m definitely going to use the websites that they talked about.”

Hettich-Atkins said she believes SLIs are a valuable resource for students outside of the classroom. 

“There’s so many things that students need to know that aren’t taught in a formal academic class,” Hettich-Atkins said. 

Providing these life skills to students is only half the battle. Student attendance is a factor in determining which SLIs will be hosted again. The “Emergency Preparedness” SLI saw five students in attendance — an abnormally low number according to Swarts — while the “Be Vote Ready!” and “Car Basics” SLIs had 11 and 10 students respectively.

Both Verzosa and Hettich-Atkins were happy with the attendance of their events, but they both said they look forward to larger crowds in the future. 

“We had 11 registered and 11 showed up,” Hettich-Atkins said. “Would we have loved to have more? Absolutely, but we’ll take 11 of 11.”

Swarts also mentioned plans for future SLIs, including a severe weather workshop at an indeterminate date. If student attendance is high, the SLI will be offered more frequently across campus. 

“We’ve never done those before,” Swarts said. “So we’re going to launch them and see if there’s an interest. Hopefully, we can touch every student with this information when they first join Ithaca College and the community. And then they’re more prepared.”