community leaders Thursday in the Hayden-Clark Alumni Center Ball-
room. Photo by Katlyn Gerdes.
The Lewis J. Burger Center for Student Leadership and Public Service hosted its annual “Through the Lens of Leaders” event Thursday.
Nathan Thomas, vice president of Student Affairs, said it’s a traditional event.
“[‘Through the Lens of Leaders’] has been going on at Bradley for a number of years, and impressively, it involves a number of community leaders over a number of years,” Thomas said. “It’s a great collection of leaders for students to meet with.”
The event, organized by the leadership and service group Fellows, featured various leaders from the Peoria community. Panelists included Judge Jodi Hoos, Peoria county prosecutor; Mark Joseph, president of South Side Bank; Gina Morss-Fischer, news anchor of WEEK 25; Dr. Michael Cruz, president of OSF Hospital and Maggie Butterfield, general manager of Running Central.
“We did a lot of searching through the Peoria community to see who we could find,” senior hospitality leadership major Abby Craft said. “We wanted to find people who could be a good fit for the event and who would be a good mix.”
Craft, who organized the event, said she planned it this year with her volunteering committee on Fellows.
“We had a lot of time to plan the event, so we were able to think of a few people and get suggestions beforehand,” Craft said. “I’m really glad with how it came together so well.”
According to Morss-Fischer, it’s important for students to find leadership role models they can look up to throughout their lives.
“I’ve had a couple of very special role models throughout my life,” Morss-Fischer said. “My husband is one of those. He’s a great partner, he really lifts me up, and he’s so humble. It makes life a lot easier and interesting, for sure.”
Hoos said she has seen a lot of community involvement from Bradley students in Peoria, and she believes any student interested in leadership should do anything they can to get involved.
“Especially in the legal field, it’s very common [to see college students getting involved] in leadership activities,” Hoos said. “There are internships, and big companies are good about that. I think the opportunities are there, it’s just a matter of the students needing to find the area they want to go into.”
Thomas said he hopes the university educated its students appropriately.
“The world is calling for leaders,” Thomas said.
