Business students today, community leaders tomorrow

The Kelley School of Business offers students an opportunity to hone their business skills and develop citizenship skills through Civic Leadership Development. The program gives students volunteer opportunities as well as nonprofit internships, and the group will hold its first general meeting of the year at 8 p.m. Wednesday.\n“This is the 20th year of CLD,” the group’s director Helen Ingersoll said. “When it started, it was a very small idea ... so (students) could learn things in the community that we couldn’t teach them in the classroom. From then, the program has evolved tremendously.”\nCLD is open to students who have been selected for admission and are currently pursuing a Kelley degree, she said.\n“Students benefit in a variety of ways from the CLD,” Ingersoll said. “They develop their own leadership style, whether it is through the student executive board ... or volunteering at different places.”\nThe organization’s internship partners include the American Red Cross, Junior Achievement of Central Indiana and the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, according to the groups’ Web site.\n“We have had tremendous partnership with the CLD program,” said Christy Gillenwater, president and CEO of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. “(CLD) provides great resources to local organizations that they can use internally.”\nStudents often tell their story about how and why they volunteered through the program to recruiters, Ingersoll said. \n“Through CLD, I have been involved with Family Nights at the SRSC and am now on their advisory board,” said sophomore Steve Bennewitz. “CLD gives you a lot of options to get involved in the community and does not place a commitment requirement over you.”\nCLD is something that all Kelley students should consider, to see the range of activities that they want to be involved in, said Becky Verstein, co-president of the program. \n“The first thing that struck me about CLD was the opportunity to do something beyond the classroom,” Verstein said. “We are hoping to generate a lot of interest and get people excited about involvement.”\nA new feature in CLD this year is the creation of four Society Interest Groups, or SIGs.\n“We have four different SIGs – Youth, Elderly, Environment and Urban Issues,” Verstein said. “Through the SIGs, we are trying to create events where people can learn about an issue, register to volunteer as long-term volunteers and meet other like minded people.” \nKelley students interested in working with CLD can begin by registering at the group’s Web site, she said. More than 850 students have registered with CLD and have chosen different involvement levels.\n“Kelley school is preparing students to go out in the world and be good citizens as well as become big players in the corporate world,” Ingersoll said. “I think it is amazing that a school cares enough to do that.”