On Wednesday September 16, 2015, the CARE program offered a free workshop for all students. It was on goal setting and planning ahead. This is a good topic because so many college students do not know how to effectively set a goal and achieve it.

When students arrived they were greeted and swiped into the event. After being swiped in, a student could enter the room and select a seat. Shortly after arrival, the program started. A PowerPoint was passed out to each participant. There was room to take notes on it, and all participants were allowed to take their PowerPoint home, to refer to later and remember what they learned. One of the topics included in this discussion was motivation. If a student motivates himself or herself, they are more inclined to complete the task than someone who is only motivated by an external source.

We also discussed our opinions on who controls are life. We learned that one does better if she believes she controls her own life than that external forces control her life. Then we discussed goal setting. A long-term goal takes one to five years to accomplish and should contain several short-term goals. A short-term goal should be completed in one or two months. Next we discussed SMART goals. These goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. If a goal does not meet this criteria, one must alter her goal so it has a chance of being achieved. After we were done with our discussion, pizza and drinks arrived. All participants were invited to enjoy free pizza and drinks and talk to staff in the CARE program. The pizza varieties included were plain, peperoni, and veggie and the drink choices were water, Brisk, and other sodas. Plenty of food was available; only five people attended the dinner and we had four pizza pies.

I would highly recommend adding completing this workshop to a short-term goal list because goal setting is a very important skill for any leader to acquire.