Hardin-Simmons University Leadership Studies Program

12/28/2020

Leadership Studies Seniors '19-'20

To (mostly) complete the video memories of the exceptional learning opportunities available to HSU students over the years through the Leadership Studies Program, here is last year's graduating senior video. It fills in the gap between 2018-2020. This program helped set our university apart from other schools and leadership studies programs.

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Senior tribute video for our 2019-2020 graduates. Every picture in this movie features at least one graduating senior of the Leadership Studies Program. It is amazing to look back over the things we've done together through your time in the program. Thanks for making life fun!

Pictures come from:
-Two Florida Crisis Simulations
-Two Texas Crisis Simulations
-Two Outdoor Leadership classes
-Two Model United Nations conferences
-Two Civil Rights Movement travel courses
-Two study abroad adventures in Vienna (side trips to Prague and Salzburg)
-Two Presidents class trips
-Two Great Leaders of History classes (Vienna and Texas history)
-Two Organization Builders classes (New York City and Seattle)
-Two Mexico-to-Canada bike rides
-Three all-volunteer, charity bike rides across Texas
-One all-volunteer bike ride across Missouri
-Service projects
-Campus service events
-Speaker events
-Leadership Late Nights
-Leadership Retreats
-December 2019 graduation

In order of appearance:
Pike Place Market (PPM) , Seattle
U.S./Canada border
U.S. Embassy, Vienna
Alamo, San Antonio
Purple Jackets
HEB (HEB) Foundation Camp
HSU Model United Nations
Melonball Late Night
Texas Crisis Simulation #1 (TCS)
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (WMWR)
Times Square, NYC
Nebraska/South Dakota border
Vienna 2018
Bismarck, ND
WMWR
Burggarten, Vienna
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna
South Dakota/Minnesota border
Plains Baptist Camp and Retreat Center
U.S. Embassy, Vienna
FBC Abilene Trunk or Treat
Artist visit, Vienna
LaGuardia Airport
Oklahoma/Kansas border
WMWR
Christmas Late Night
St. Augustine, Florida Crisis Simulation (FLCS) VII
FBC Abilene Trunk or Treat
South Dakota laughs
Donauinsel, Vienna
WMWR
Conclusion of BRATS5
FLCS VII
WMWR
BRAM conclusion
Brooklyn Bridge, NYC
Melonball Late Night
3D Late Night
FLCS VII
WMWR
Danube bike ride, 2016
Outdoor Leadership 7
Leaving for LBJ100
Salzburg Zoo
WMWR
Student Organization Fair
Booker T. Washington house, 2017
Rocheport, MO
Beethoven Statue, Vienna
Eagle Pass, TX - BRATS5
Bullock Museum, Austin
Restore Church, Austin
Magnusson at Abilene Public Library
Hmmm, Skiles Building
WMWR
Boating on the Danube
Kansas/Nebraska border
Texas Crisis Simulation (TCS) 2
WMWR
Streets of Vienna
U.S./Canada border
University of Washington
Brooklyn Bridge, NYC
Vienna State Opera
U.S./Canada border
Strauss statue, Vienna
Clinton, MO - Katy Trail trailhead
WMWR
Christmas at Patterson house
New York City
Nebraska/South Dakota border
FLCS VII
WMWR
Texico, NM - start of BRAT7
BRAT veterans
Crescent Beach, FL - FLCS VII
Harry S. Truman House
Danube bike ride, 2018
Restore Church, Austin
Streets of Vienna
Kansas/Missouri border - BRAM
FLCS VII, U of Florida
Schönbrunn Palace
Statue of Liberty
WMWR
Surfside Beach, BRAT6
Amazon HQ, Seattle
WMWR breakfast
Portage Des Sioux, BRAM
Magnusson HSU visit
Mozarthaus, Vienna
9/11 Museum, NYC
Community First Village, Austin
Del Rio, BRATS4
Oklahoma/Texas border
Maria-Theresien-Platz
Kansas/Nebraska border
Imperial Treasury, Vienna
HEB Camps
Fremont Troll, Seattle
GHW Bush Library
Ubahn, Vienna
Martin Luther King, Jr. home, Atlanta
Dec. 2019 graduation
Haus des Meeres, Vienna
Parlament/Hofburg Palace, Vienna
Giddings, BRAT7
Amazon, Seattle
TCS2
Danube bike ride, 2018
Votivkirche, Vienna
PPM, Vienna
TCS2
BRATS5
Der Musikverein Wien
TCS2
Christmas Late Night
Oklahoma/Kansas border
Streets of Vienna
Big Bend, BRAT8
Jimi Hendrix statue, Seattle
Belvedere Palace, Vienna
WMWR
DFW MUN
Quintana Beach, BRAT7
LBJ Ranch
PPM, Seattle
HEB
Mt. Rainier National Park
HEB
Maria-Theresien-Platz
Rocheport, MO
Mt. Rainier NP
Ubahn, Vienna
Oberlin, KS
FBC Abilene Trunk or Treat
Haydn House, Vienna
Booker T. Washington house 2019
Dec. 2019 graduation
Bremerton-Seattle Ferry
TCS2
U.S./Canada border
Streets of Vienna
BRAT7
WMWR
Prater, Vienna
Texas/Louisiana border
Washington Capitol
PPM, Seattle
U.S./Canada border
Streets of Vienna
FLCS VII, UF
National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis
Schönbrunn Palace
BRAT7
DFW MUN
U of Alabama
Bremerton-Seattle Ferry
U.S./Canada border
Texas State Capitol
Mt. Rainier NP
LBJ Library
WMWR
Austrian Parlament
GHW Bush Library
Truman Library
Original Starbucks, Seattle
Alabama Capitol
Wall Street
Prague
Dec. 2019 graduation
U of Mississippi
Top of the Rock
Eastside Baptist - McCamey
Eisenhower Library, Kansas
Danube bike ride 2018
BRAT8
Valentine, Nebraska
FLCS VII
NYC
United Nations, Vienna
Restore Church, Austin
Red River, BRAT8
LBJ Library
South Dakota Capitol
Brahams Statue, Vienna
WMWR
Dec. 2019 graduation
United Nations, Vienna
Rio Grande, BRAT8
Eisenhower Library
Memphis
Ubahn, Vienna
Mt. Rainier NP
Crescent Beach, FL FLCS IX
Strauss Statue, Vienna
Prague
South Dakota/North Dakota border
Brown Chapel, Selma
Federal Hall, NYC
Selma 2019
Civil Rights 2019
Austrian Parlament
FLCS IX
LBJ gravesite
Selma 2017
Bremerton-Seattle Ferry
Missouri River, BRAM
DFW MUN
Mt. Rainier NP
Prague
Lorraine Motel, Memphis
Microsoft HQ, Seattle
GHW Bush Library

https://youtu.be/PADg9eWI9o4

Senior tribute video for our 2019-2020 graduates. Every picture in this movie features at least one graduating senior of the Leadership Studies Program. It...

12/28/2020

Class of 2018 - HSU Leadership Studies Program

The “I’ve Been Everywhere” post (see below) shows pictures and describes trips through December, 2014. Here is the graduating senior video from the class of 2018. Here is a continuation of the list of events and places visited after the last video. Again, we are heading into the final semester before the program is no more.

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Some the things done and seen by our 2018 graduating seniors. Pictures come from the Civil Rights Movement travel course, NYC 2015, NYC 2017, BRAT2, BRAT3, BRAT5, BRAT6, Vienna 2016, Presidents 2016, Outdoor Leadership #6, Outdoor Leadership #7, Washington D.C. 2015, Model United Nations conferences, and many on-campus courses, Late Nights, Purple Jacket events, and other events and get-togethers. Good people--excited to see where they will go and what they will do next. Well done!

Top of the Rock – NYC 2015
Hundertwasser Haus – Vienna 2016
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge – OL#6
Booker T. Washington’s House – Civil Rights Movement Travel Course
Eagle Pass, Texas – Start of BRATS5
TexMUN – Inaugural Texas Model United Nations
Family Research Council HQ – Washington D.C. 2015
Old Clyde Middle School clean-up day
Farewell to Dr. Keeter just north of Goldthwaite, TX – BRAT6
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge – OL#6
Christmas Socks Late Night – Vienna Travelers
Conclusion of Danube Bicycle Ride – Vienna
Times Square – NYC 2017
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge – OL#7
U.S. House of Representatives Press Room – Washington D.C.
HSU campus at mid-point of BRAT3
U.S. Embassy – Vienna
Tarantula – Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge – OL#7
Haus Erasmus dormitory kitchen – Vienna
Day 2 of Foundations of Leadership Studies – Fall 2014
Preview Weekend campus club representatives
U.S./Canada border on Route 83 – BRATS5
HEB Foundation Camp – OL#6
George W. Bush Presidential Library
HEB Foundation Camp – OL#7
3D (Dream, Develop, Do) class – Spring 2017
BRAT2 team preparing to head out – Brownsville to Liberal, KS
LBJ Presidential Library – Fall 2016
HEB Foundation Camp – OL#6
George W. Bush Presidential Library
New Mexico line past Texline – BRAT3 conclusion
Top of the Rock – NYC 2015
Prague, Czech Republic – Vienna trip 2016
HSU Model United Nations – Spring 2017
Schoenbrunn Palace – Vienna
U.S./Canada border – BRATS5
Statue of Liberty – NYC 2017
Mineral Wells State Park – OL#6
Kanas state line – BRATS5
Brooklyn Bridge – NYC 2017
Purple Jackets
NYC 2017
3D Barista Bootcamp
Christmas Party at the Pattersons
Cooling off on way to campus on BRAT3
National Mall – Washington D.C. 2015
Groceries in Angleton before start of BRAT3
Gloriette – Vienna
University of Florida Crisis Simulation – 2018
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge – OL#7
South Dakota border on Route 83 – BRATS5
Foundations class – Fall 2014
9/11 Museum – NYC 2017
Dinner with the Dennis family – BRAT3
Homecoming reception with the Deans – Fall 2017
Melonball Late Night
MLK Jr. boyhood home in Atlanta – Civil Rights Movement Travel Course
Meers Restaurant – OL#6
University of Florida Crisis Simulation – 2018
Ninja Late Night
Oberlin, Kansas rest stop – BRATS5
Rockefeller Center – NYC 2015
Century Ride (La Grange, TX) – BRAT6
Maria Theresa Platz – Vienna 2016
PK Training Ride for BRATS4
HEB Foundation Camp – OL#6
Mineral Wells State Park – OL#6
Surfside Beach – Conclusion of BRAT6
Pi Day Late Night
Vienna reunion party at the Pattersons
HEB Foundation Camp – OL#6
LBJ Presidential Library Archives – Presidents 2016
Purple Jackets
Tarantula at Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge – OL#7
HEB Foundation Camp – OL#6
Top of the Rock – NYC 2015
Texico, New Mexico – Start of BRAT6
FBC Trunk or Treat 2016
Austrian Parliament – Vienna
Cystic Fibrosis Walk at Redbud Park
Purple Jackets
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge – OL#7
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge – OL#7

https://youtu.be/HXbylok5Fbo

Some the things done and seen by our 2018 graduating seniors. Pictures come from the Civil Rights Movement travel course, NYC 2015, NYC 2017, BRAT2, BRAT3, ...

12/11/2020

December Commencement 2020 - 11AM

Congratulations to Noah Jones for this special recognition. We also celebrate the graduations of Hilda, Billy, Daniel, and our adopted graduate, Ben. We've had great times together in the classroom, playing saxophones, riding bikes to Canada, doing study abroad in Vienna, hosting and participating in MUN and crisis simulations conferences, visiting seven presidential libraries, participating in Outdoor Leadership adventures, and traveling the country with Civil Rights, Presidents, Organization Builders, and Great Leaders classes. Our time here is done. Congratulations!

Tune in here to hear Noah's commendation.
https://youtu.be/sAJyrYIBm_A?t=3212

Join us in congratulating all of our graduating class from Hardin-Simmons University!

12/10/2020

1969 - 2009 Presidents: Civil Rights and Domestic Affairs

After 28 years as a program, we've just finished our next-to-last semester. Despite the complications of COVID, we've had a tremendous semester of learning. The Ethical Issues for Leaders class was the best section that we've ever offered.

The Organization Builders--Boston class was tremendously eye-opening and we learned about many different people who have left influential marks on U.S. and world history (we are still sad that we didn't get to go visit Boston to complete the experience).

Our Presidents class was also a wonderful learning experience. To wrap up their study into the presidencies of Nixon through G.W. Bush, students completed comprehensive reflection projects. Some wrote (very) long papers and others made videos. Here is a great example of what we've learned. Nice job, Daniel!

https://youtu.be/0y0KGuloomA

From Nixon to George W. Bush, this video aims to analyze the facts and implications of these Presidents' decisions regarding domestic policy and social reform.

11/19/2020

Four years ago at the conclusion of our first Presidents class. We are now finishing our third Presidents class.

11/18/2020

Leadership Studies Seattle Trip 2019

Remembering last year's Organization Builders trip to Seattle. It was great!

https://youtu.be/62M0mswj6tE

Students in the Organization Builders class spent Thanksgiving week (2019) in Seattle, Washington visiting places and companies studied in class. Getting to ...

11/16/2020

Hardin-Simmons University Leadership Studies Program in NYC 2017

Three years ago, we were getting ready to go to NYC with the Organization Builders class. We are pausing to remember Bailey today and what a joy she was to have with us on the trip and in our lives. Miss you.

https://youtu.be/CUPHI91by6U

Organization Builders-NYC class trip to New York City, Noveber 19-24, 2017. Leadership Studies Program at Hardin-Simmons University. To learn more about our ...

11/10/2020

"The Great Dissent" by Thomas Healy

Oliver Wendall Holmes, Jr. was our person of interest today in the Organization Builders-Boston class today. Interesting person who left a big mark on our society. We are now ready to explore more on the of the life and presidency of Bill Clinton in our Presidents class.

We're not just riding bikes and we, as we always have, are spending time studying government, politics, and public service. If you've heard otherwise, you got some bad information.

https://youtu.be/Cug5NMAHIek

In an interview with Blaze-TV, Professor Thomas Healy discusses a pivotal moment history -- when Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes changed his pers...

11/01/2020

Education far beyond the ordinary. Only one semester left. Unbelievable!

10/29/2020

Leonard Bernstein, 72 (1918-1990)

Today's Organization Builder with connections to Boston. Great video of a life lived to the fullest. Videos and connections to Vienna make the story even better. Well done, Maestro!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQC3wgeQyVc

Leonard Bernstein. (25th August 1918 - 14th October 1990) was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist. He was among the first co...

10/26/2020

Two years ago this week, we were on our Presidents class trip to Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy libraries and sites. We also visited the Kansas and Oklahoma Capitols, the Brown vs. Board of Education Historic Site in Topeka, and the Oklahoma City National Memorial. We also visited the Kansas State University campus and the Staley School of Leadership Studies. KSU is an institution that really values and supports leadership education. Truly memorable!

10/15/2020

Helen Keller, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Ronald and Nancy Reagan were our subjects of the week. We also studied the thoughts of Aristotle in our Ethics class as they relate to justice and equity. We are and have always been more than riding bikes and taking trips.

10/09/2020

Angelina Eberly statue in downtown Austin. We took this picture on our Great Leaders of History—Texas edition class last semester before COVID shut things down. Mrs. Eberly is part of the reason that Austin is the capital of Texas. Look her up!

10/09/2020

Many of the posts on our social media accounts show picture and videos from our outside-of-class learning experiences. However, we also have a tremendous lineup of courses that explore leadership and teamwork in many different ways. Since this semester’s travel plans have been changed, I am sharing posts of topics studied in our three classes instead.

Today’s famous Bostonian who left a mark on U.S. history is Paul Revere. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized Revere with his famous poem. The unembellished true story of Paul Revere is equally interesting and gives us a clearer picture of the bravery of the people who gave birth to our nation.

Paul Revere’s Ride
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
LISTEN, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light, —
One, if by land, and two, if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.”

Then he said, “Good night!” and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war;
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon like a prison bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.
Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street,
Wanders and watches with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers,
Marching down to their boats on the shore.
Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry-chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade, —
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town,
And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night-encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel’s tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, “All is well!”
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay, —
A line of black that bends and floats
On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.
Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse’s side,
Now gazed at the landscape far and near,
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle-girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry-tower of the Old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry’s height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns!
A hurry of hoofs in a village street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet:
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.
It was twelve by the village clock,
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer’s dog,
And felt the damp of the river fog,
That rises after the sun goes down.
It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.
It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadows brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket-ball.
You know the rest. In the books you have read,
How the British Regulars fired and fled, —
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farm-yard wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm, —
A cry of defiance and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.
From The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1903