{"id":23135,"date":"2023-02-15T12:49:01","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T17:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=23135"},"modified":"2024-08-21T13:39:53","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T17:39:53","slug":"senior-hopes-to-spread-leadership-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/senior-hopes-to-spread-leadership-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior hopes to spread leadership lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Furman celebrates Black History Month<\/a><\/strong>
\nRead more stories >><\/a><\/em><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before he even began his first year at Furman, Charles Miles II \u201923 was already connecting with mentors at the Shucker Center for Leadership Development<\/a>. As a high school junior in Fort Mill, South Carolina, he came to campus as a Summer Scholar and worked with the center\u2019s director, Kim Keefer, on assessing his strengths<\/a> and other leadership lessons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what really did it for me,\u201d Miles said. \u201cIt made Furman stand out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back home, Miles was being encouraged by members of his Charlotte, North Carolina, church who were alums of historically Black colleges like North Carolina A&T or Winston-Salem State University to consider their alma maters. \u201cBut the opportunities I was seeking were what drew me to Furman, rather than caring about the demographics,\u201d he said. \u201cMy mindset was always that if I can go to Furman, maybe I can convince another Black student from my area to also go there, or just share my story and impact diversity that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

After finishing the two-year Shucker Leadership Institute<\/a> program his sophomore year, Miles, a double major in mathematics and communication studies, joined the center\u2019s leadership team as a junior. During a summer internship in 2022, he started developing educational opportunities to expand the center\u2019s offerings.<\/p>\n

Working with Michelle Speitz, director of the Furman Humanities Center<\/a>, as well as Keefer and Shucker Center Assistant Director Natalie Kindler, Miles designed the Leadership Certificate Program along the lines of Furman\u2019s Cultural Life Program, in which students attend educational events throughout their undergraduate years. After attending a specific number of events, a student will receive a certificate documenting the leadership training. The first round of Leadership Certificate events is planned to launch in late February through the Pathways Program<\/a> for first- and second-year students, with the goal of making sessions available to any interested students by the end of the semester.<\/p>\n

Another new offering is Leadership Quest<\/a>. Miles and Kindler are leading 15 students through what Miles, who was one of five seniors named a Furman Fellow for 2023<\/a>,\u00a0 describes as a six-week crash course in the different aspects of leadership the Shucker Center emphasizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a great group of mentors who make me feel like the things that I hope for can be achieved but also push me to strive for more,\u201d said the senior, who is also a member of the Quaternions and other honors societies for communication studies, mathematics and leadership, as well as captain of the men\u2019s club basketball team<\/a>. \u201cYou don\u2019t get that same connection at bigger schools where a professor might not even know a student\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since his first year, Miles has been pleased with Furman\u2019s growing efforts toward diversity, equity and inclusion, including seeing more people of color in leadership positions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot more representation on campus than we used to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During Black History Month<\/a>, Miles will help lead \u201cI Feel You, Man,\u201d a discussion of Black men and mental health, on Feb. 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a certain stigma in our society, especially with Black men, about being emotionally available, in sharing your mental health and being vulnerable,\u201d he said. \u201cI love to have conversations about that kind of thing and maybe touch some people who might need to hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally pursuing an education career, Miles has pivoted to seeking opportunities in professional services and management consulting after graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always love educating people and being in a mentorship and coaching role,\u201d he said, \u201cwhich is kind of seen in my involvement on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charles Miles II \u201923 is working to expand opportunities for mentorship and personal connection campuswide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":23136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,70,50,68,27,30],"tags":[2079],"class_list":["post-23135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication-studies","category-diversity-equity-and-inclusion","category-mathematics","category-shucker-leadership-institute","category-student-life","category-top-stories","tag-black-history-month-2023"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33767,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23135\/revisions\/33767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}