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APSU leadership society inducts large class

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CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – In the fall of 2018, Austin Peay State University founded a new chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS), and less than two years later, that chapter is the largest active student organization on campus, with more than 1,200 students joining.

The NSLS is the nation's largest leadership honor society, with 660 chapters and more than 950,000 members nationwide. Students are selected by their college for membership based on either academic standing or leadership potential. 

Earlier this spring, 149 new members joined the APSU Chapter to begin their leadership training activities toward earning induction. When the COVID-19 pandemic caused the University to move to fully online instruction, canceling all on-campus student activities, the chapter had only reached the half-way point with its activities. The members were all provided an opportunity to either put their membership on hold until activities resume in the fall or they could choose to continue participating through virtual experiences.

At APSU, 43 students elected to continue their involvement. The chapter leadership worked to move the leadership training activities online, specifically reworking the Success Networking Team experience. The SNTs are small group meetings where students work together to develop personal goals, break down goals into action steps, and utilize a group of like-minded individuals for support and accountability.

Moving this experience online became the biggest challenge for NSLS, but the chapter leadership used a communication app to create virtual meeting rooms. The 43 students met by posting multiple times in their online group over the course of three weeks. They provided updates on their personal goal action steps and gave each other encouragement and feedback.

 In their reflection reports, these 43 students shared with the chapter leadership and the national office their positive experience with the virtual experience. They said their group gave them encouragement in a time when things felt out of control, that participating with other students helped them to realize that everyone was feeling overwhelmed with the changes to the world and that they knew they were not alone. Most importantly, many of the students said participating in the NSLS gave them reinforcement to continue to work hard on their classes and confidence to know they could handle the challenges COVID-19 brought to our community.

Austin Peay’s NSLS chapter recently inducted those 43 newest members, who despite having their experience impacted by COVID-19 and moved online, still persevered to complete all requirements. The new members are:

Students were invited, but they can also apply to be members. For more information on NSLS, visit www.apsu.edu/student-life/leadership/NSLS.