College of Western Idaho (CWI) students, C’line Duff and Eliza Walton, had an opportunity in July to participate in New Leadership Idaho!
This program is a political “boot camp” designed to encourage more women to become leaders in their community and to run for political office. Boise State hosted the residential workshop, with students living on campus and attending workshops for 10 hours a day, then returning to the dorms for independent and group work.
Both Duff and Walton expressed a strong desire to run for political office prior to entering the program. “This week has changed how willing I am to work behind the scenes to enact change,” said Walton.
Nearly two dozen women, representing six Idaho colleges and universities, spent a week in Boise attending New Leadership Idaho. CWI has participated in the program since its debut in 2014
Lori Hausegger, director of New Leadership Idaho, points to signs that the program is beginning to show results. “One of our students was recently hired as Senate Minority Chief of Staff, another is working as a Program Specialist in a nonprofit, and a former student was in Washington DC, where a team she was on, won a national campaign to ‘Innovate Against Hate.’”
Collaboration and civility are common themes throughout the week. Not only do students participate in workshops designed to teach them these skills but that message is reinforced through the choice of guest speakers. Representatives Ilana Rubel (D) and Christy Perry (R) have been involved with New Leadership Idaho every year since its creation in Idaho and made a joint appeal for support at New Leadership’s Mentoring Reception.