Business students hone leadership skills at Camp Hydaway event

Students involved in the bachelor’s and master’s capstone summer intensive courses for the business administration program attended a leadership event at Camp Hydaway on Sunday, Aug. 16.  At the event, professors from the School of Business taught leadership principles and business expertise through outdoor survival skills and camp simulations. An Illuminate Grant for the Improvement of Teaching, awarded by Liberty’s Center for Teaching Excellence, sponsored the event.

The event stressed hands-on learning, using team activities including compass navigation and campfire building to illustrate concepts — such as group task management and problem solving under pressure — that students had learned about in their capstone classes. The goal of the day was to equip all students with increased skills in critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and leadership.

The event culminated in a team relay that combined skills students had honed in previous activities. Students were given free reign to task and organize their groups before using Army compasses to find clues and solving business math problems.

Will Gunzelman, adjunct professor for the School of Business, described the event as highly beneficial to the students on a personal and professional level, as the skills learned in these activities will help students become effective Christian leaders.

“It really moved us ahead as far as students learning what we were doing this week and their understanding of the concepts,” Gunzelman said. “This way, students also have personal experience related to the topic that they can reference in future classes when learning new concepts.”