Yale-NUS students participate in leadership programme abroad

In early March 2024, the Yale-NUS Student Affairs Office (SAO) led a group of Yale-NUS College students to take part in a leadership programme at Fulbright University Vietnam. Similar to Yale-NUS College, Fulbright University is a liberal arts college that empowers youths through transformative and holistic education. To encourage students to level-up their leadership skills, the Yale-NUS SAO collaborated with Fulbright University Vietnam to design the programme.

Sevval Bayram (Class of 2025) shared that participants experienced a series of games and personality tests called Spotlight Profiles, which prompted a self-reflection on one’s leadership style. Sevval shared that “The Spotlight Profiles allowed me to realise my strengths and weaknesses as well as what drives me or how I tend to act under pressure. This extensive explanation of my personality gave me a new perspective on my work ethic and leadership type.”

Similarly, Nageen Rameez (Class of 2024) shared how she “learned the merits of working styles that are different from mine, and how I can incorporate elements of these into my own leadership approach.”

The leadership programme gave participants the opportunity to improve their teamwork and communication skills. This was practised during roleplaying challenges such as a minefield game. Sevval shared that the challenges required effective communication from all members. “Due to limited time to actually get to know each other, effective communication during the games became really crucial. Teamwork and strategic thinking also helped us a lot during our challenges.”

The programme allowed Yale-NUS students to learn from their peers at Fulbright University Vietnam. For example, Sevval explained how interacting with students from other cultures enabled their personal development. “I learned to be more flexible, open-minded, and a better listener,” Sevval said.

For Sevval, her best memory of the experience was “playing the Decrypto game in which we had to use creative ways to communicate. It was a really fun game that enabled me to see how differently people can think and use their creativity.” For Nageen, it was forging new relationships with others, when she “mentioned to my teammates that I like collecting badges, and the next time I saw them they gifted me a Fulbright Vietnam badge to add to my collection!”