Seawolves Lead is a workshop hosted by Student Involvements very own Joanie Ly. 

This workshop brings working through conflict to the Erin Fisher room on the second floor of the student center on Nov. 7. 

Each month, this workshop focuses on different topics designed to build and develop clubs and organizations, although the program encourages any students who wish to participate as well with open arms.

Ly is the Campus Life adviser for General Clubs at Student Involvement and Student Affairs. She has been with the university for two years and transformed Seawolves Lead out of its parent club, Blueprint.

She took the new workshop under her wing, creating and running the topic based workshops each month and even brings in guest speakers when able. 

The point of this workshop is to support clubs and organizations so that their members can take those tools and excel both within their organization and in life beyond Sonoma State.

By making a different topic to pick apart and work through every time, students are constantly learning and making their clubs and lives deeper and better.  “Everything you learn in a club is real world skills.  Here you learn how to practice them,” Ly says.

Bryen Mariano, senior and president of Sonoma State Dance Marathon Club, recalls a Seawolves lead workshop brought to the club last year.  

The workshop was called “True Colors”, in which participants learn through guided activities how their color spectrum (color coded personality trait cards) affects all relationships, both professional and personal.  

Mariano said, “The True Colors activity helped our club become closer together as members, allowed us to see hand and hand what characteristics made us unique, and provided a vision for our organization on how we can progress as a club to enhance our successes down the line.”

Ly explained that students begin to incur stress and problems regarding how to navigate through to the end of the year. 

Since this is the last workshop of the semester, conflict resolution was an appropriate topic for students to gain skills to work through all they might encounter for the rest of the semester and beyond. 

“Clubs have problems. People have problems. It’s totally normal.  I hope the message reaches all clubs and organizations possible to know that support is here, “ Ly says.

Ly reports a resume building workshop a while back that focused on how to put involvement in clubs on a resume in the best light possible, which was one of Seawolves Lead’s biggest successes because the students took her tips, redid their resumes, and sent them into her to follow up even after the workshop was over. 

Daisy Agers, member of multiple clubs and organizations on campus, including Love Your Melon and president of Alpha Gamma Delta, talked about the importance of working through conflict, “I think delegation and communication is the key to success in any club.”  

The emails sent out by Seawolf Living about what is going on on campus can be easy to skip over since they are distributed weekly and can seem less important than what is on the forefront of our personal lives.  

These workshops in particular are typically small and cozy, averaging 5 people or less. This allows students to focus on what they are learning and get maximum benefit. 

So stay tuned to your emails or make a habit of checking the Seawolf Living Website for future workshops from Seawolves Lead and more, because there are always so many rich resources at your disposal.