Program pushes students to real world leadership

Everyone reads the books, sits in the classes and takes the tests.

But while UB classes educate, when it comes to getting actual real-world experience in their chosen career fields, it is frequently up to the student to seek out an internship or job.

The Leadership and Development Center offers a unique program for students aspiring to one day lead an organization or for those interested in becoming a mastermind in their chosen industry. REALM, which stands for Real Experience and Leadership Mentoring, offers opportunity for any university student looking to gain a real world perspective on how leaders successfully manage the workplace.

The program is now in its seventh year. Headed by Edward Brodka, director of the Leadership Development Center, REALM matches potential students with successful local leaders in both government and private sectors within the Buffalo area. Mentors this year include a Buffalo city court judge, a senior vice president and CIO of a bank, and a director and CEO for a local not-for-profit organization.

"Leadership skills are equal among all areas of business, they are transferable to all facets within a business," said Melitta East, a graduate student in the Student Affairs program and leadership house coordinator for the center.

Although the program does not guarantee students a match within their chosen field, REALM focuses on building leadership skills that can be applied in any career. Both mentor and student are given a basic leadership outline at the beginning of the program. From this outline the student is able to ask questions and understand how leadership skills apply to all industries.

Students seem to agree that REALM is a great opportunity for gaining real world leadership skills. Teresa Romeo, a senior English major, is so happy with REALM that this will be her fourth year applying to the program.

"I gained some great insight from observing how my mentor interacted with people, how she made decisions and managed her time," said Romeo. "Every year my mentor has looked over my resume which gave me some great outside perspective on it."

Amanda Marcus, a junior in the school of management, said that the program helped her grasp the important concept of customer service. She was amazed at how good service truly affected a business.

"The manager was really friendly to all of her customers that came into her store and, as a result, she had a really large, loyal customer base. I thought that was special to see," said Marcus.

Even the mentors can benefit from participating in REALM. Frank J. Polino, senior vice president and chief information officer of First Niagara Bank felt his efforts were gratified by having such an eager student.

"He was appropriately inquisitive and asked pertinent questions on challenges within the work place," said Polino.

Students get out of REALM whatever they put in, and many enjoy taking advantage of the potential for a well-rounded experience. Catyra Polland, a sophomore sociology and Spanish major, is trying to understand how to deal with diversity in the workplace.

"I believe REALM will give me the experience to deal with diversity in the real world. I know that being open will help me become a tolerant, appreciative and fair individual," said Polland.

Leadership skills along with a complete perspective into the layout and functions of a business seem to all factor into the REALM experience. The deadline to apply for this year's program is Friday, March 3 by 5 p.m. The application for the program can be found on at www.leadership.buffalo.edu/programs.

Students like Mary Langan, a junior speech and hearing science major, found a new long-term aspiration.

"My leadership mentor taught me many lessons that day that have helped guide me toward my long-term goal of attending law school," she said. "REALM gave me the opportunity to shadow a government leader in their workplace, and it has helped me to visualize where I see myself in the future and what kind of a leader I aspire to be."