Scaling walls and jumping planks, Johnson School students experience the meaning of leadership

In T-shirts, bandannas and mud-stained shorts, they looked more like summer campers than students bound for the business world. But by the end of the weekend, the take-home messages were clear: leadership, communication, team building and accountability -- all key attributes for the corporate environment.

About 245 first-year Johnson School students -- nearly the entire class -- participated in the Johnson Outdoor Experience (JOE), held at Camp Casowasco in Moravia, N.Y. Traditionally organized by second-year students, the event caps the incoming students' two-week orientation period. It allows the new students to bond in a setting outside of Sage Hall, but also to test their personalities and skills as they try out a low-ropes course and other physical activities.

The students are purposely grouped with the same people they will work with on group projects throughout part of their first semester. During team-building exercises Aug. 22, groups rotated through team tasks: helping each other scale a wall, jumping planks without touching the ground or falling into each other's arms from the tops of picnic tables.

As the students strategized, argued and talked over each other (except in activities in which no talking was allowed), facilitators and leaders noted the concepts of leadership on trial.

"Many times what will happen is that people will take on different roles in their groups, and they are similar to the roles they may take on in the business world," said Jeff Osborn '09, co-chair of this year's JOE.

Shortly after helping pass her teammates, holding themselves stiff as boards and parallel to the ground, through a series of intricate patterns in a rope web, Ann Tracy '10 said she got the feeling that leaders were also hoping to emphasize communication.

"It's good to see how different people react to different situations," Tracy said. "All of us have our own styles."

Themes of the retreat will resonate throughout the students' Johnson School experience, particularly those in the leadership development program that's woven throughout their two years at Cornell, said Johnson School faculty member Clint Sidle.

"There are two purposes for the event: to explore leadership, but also to build community and for them to get to know their classmates," Sidle said.

Media Contact

Media Relations Office