CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — Annah Liberg, a senior rehabilitation and human services major from Coopersburg, has only been a student at Penn State Lehigh Valley (PSU-LV) for a little over a year. She transferred to the campus last fall and wasted no time getting involved. Now leading several clubs, including serving as president of Community Heroes, member of THON executive board, and president of the newly formed Her. Empowered club for female students that launches on the PSU-LV campus this fall, Liberg is excited about what the next year will bring.

Liberg was one of nine student leaders representing PSU-LV at the annual Penn State Summer Leadership Conference (SLC), held this year at Penn State Harrisburg. The goal of the SLC is to provide a challenging and motivating experience to empower emerging and established student leaders from across the Penn State network. The other student leaders who attended were Dylan Sarkozy, Student Government Association (SGA) president; Aden Broome, SGA vice president; Samreen-Joy Minhas, music club officer; Shreya Kokila, THON director of alumni relations, honors club, and business club officer; Sharon Kahlon, THON off-campus events director; Arushi Gupta, Global Student Organization officer; and Isabella Watson, executive board of Her. Empowered.

During the SLC, students take a deep dive into what it takes to be a leader and further hone their leadership skills while networking with their peers. Many of the discussions take place in Discovery Groups, which are meant to foster discussion, networking and friendship among groups of diverse students and their facilitator, ideally representing the diversity of Penn State’s Commonwealth Campuses.

Liberg not only attended, she co-presented “Growing Your Leadership Through Service” with fellow PSU-LV student Maeve Yanes, THON chair and member of the Community Heroes executive board, and Pam Fleck, PSU-LV assistant director of student affairs. Their presentation focused on the benefits of service and how students can get involved as servant leaders practicing service leadership.

“I loved presenting — being able to inspire others was huge for me,” Liberg said. “It was my first time presenting in such a professional setting. I worked so hard with Community Heroes in the last year — I really enjoyed it, and sharing all the work we did with other student leaders was really special.”

Part of the overarching goal of SLC — and student leadership at Penn State overall — is to motivate students to get involved in causes larger than themselves and improve their communities in ways large and small.

“Students can do a lot. We try to set things up for them so they can give back. Even if they can’t join a club, they can be part of projects on campus and give back that way,” Fleck said. “What we shared in our presentation were examples of opportunities where we’ve given back, whether it was by holding a food drive for local food banks, assembling art kits for children at local hospitals, or painting Kindness Rocks.”

Fleck said the SLC is always a great event that inspires student leaders to do even more on campus, in their communities, and beyond.

“SLC is a unique opportunity that brings Penn State students from across the Commonwealth together to grow, learn and network,”  Fleck said. “Our students get the chance to meet and hear about what’s happening at other campuses.” 

The SLC gives student leaders a boost to kick off the new semester with energy and drive, Fleck said.

“Students always leave this conference with renewed enthusiasm, but also with new skills to come back to campus and focus on their roles, get other students engaged, and do great things,” said Fleck.