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Hamilton’s Levitt Leadership Institute (LLI) students spent their first week of spring break discovering how to be passionate, flexible and persistent in Washington, D.C. As organizers and participants in sessions with both governmental and non-profit organization leaders, they had the opportunity to demonstrate their newly acquired leadership skills.

There’s just no one answer to the question: “What are Hamilton students doing over spring break?”

Former U.S. Ambassador Prudence Bushnell led a workshop focused on helping women discover their leadership skills and learn strategies on how to be heard on Feb. 20. Sponsored by the Dean of Faculty's Office, this was an opportunity for female students, faculty members, and community partners to learn from Bushnell's rich experiences as a diplomat, leader and educator.

“I am convinced that individual human beings can make a difference.” The proclamation made by Prudence Bushnell, an American diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to Kenya and Guatemala, and the former Sol M. Linowitz Visiting Professor of International Relations at Hamilton, established the framework for the Hamilton students participating in the 5th annual Levitt Leadership Institute, Jan. 10-15.

Hamilton College has a long history of engagement in the Foreign Service  beginning with alumnus Elihu Root, class of 1864, who served as U.S. Secretary of State for four years beginning in 1905. Given this legacy, it is not surprising that one current and four former ambassadors are sharing their experiences and perspectives with the campus community this semester.

Hamilton’s Levitt Leadership Institute participants spent their first week of spring break refining leadership skills and networking in Washington, D.C. Expanding their networking beyond the governmental and non-profit agencies with which they met, the students seized the opportunity to gather with Hamilton alumni and fellow students participating in the semester-long D.C. program.

The momentum of the 4th annual Levitt Leadership Institute continued off-campus in Washington, D.C., the week of March 16. Led again by Former Ambassador Prudence Bushnell and Christine Powers, and later joined by Director of Hamilton’s Education Studies Program Susan Mason, the group applied leadership lessons learned in the first week in January, and viewed leadership-in-action in our nation’s capital.

Four Hamilton students who have created meaningful projects to address global problems through their work with the Levitt Public Affairs Center had the opportunity to share their ideas on a much larger stage when they were chosen to attend the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) in Miami on March 6-8. Ryan Ong ’16, Sharif Shrestha ’17, Tsion Tesfaye ’16 and Jose Vazquez ’15  - all of whom are Levitt Social Innovation Fellows or Public Service Interns – were among 1000 college and university students selected to take part in the prestigious conference.

“There will never, ever, be another you. There never has been, and there never will be.” The bold statement from Prudence Bushnell, former Ambassador to Kenya and Guatemala as well as the former Sol M. Linowitz Visiting Professor of International Relations at Hamilton College, set the tone for the diverse group of Hamilton students participating in the 4th annual Levitt Leadership Institute, Jan. 12-16.

Spring semester classes don’t begin until Jan. 20 but 39 Hamilton students are back on campus a week early to take part in two Levitt Center programs. Twenty-six students are participating in the fourth Levitt Leadership Institute and 13 are involved in the Social Innovation Fellow Program.