Brookhaven Courier

Issue date: 4/2/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Chris Vivero W. G. Garland, Dallas County Community College District associate vice chancellor of student affairs, waits for students to respond to a question. Garland came to Brookhaven College March 20 to present a lecture titled, "Role of Student Leaders on Campus."

Life experiences helped W.G. Garland acquire the leadership skills he has today. Garland, Dallas County Community College District associate vice-chancellor of student affairs, came to Brookhaven College to speak about the role of student leaders on campus. Garland attended James Madison high school in Dallas.

Garland said he would take what he learned in the class and from textbooks and apply it to the outside world. On the sports field he was a leader as captain of the football team; an accomplishment that he said helped him earn the respect of others.

He talked about two types of leaders, transactional and transformational. He explained that a transactional leader goes through their daily routine without any significant changes. A transformational leader is someone who is a great person in history and a person sees a vision for a need for change.

Garland said the characteristics of a leader are charisma, ability to create and share a vision, courage and the ability to stimulate people to make change.

Brookhaven student Lupe Guzman said: "The lecture was good. I liked that he explained the types of leadership, and how to become a leader."

Garland graduated with a master's in student counseling from East Texas State. Garland explained the importance of respect by telling a story.

He said he noticed other councilors would have altercations with the prisoners. One day realized he never had an incident so he asked one of the prisoners why he never had an incident. The prisoner said, "Well you have a reputation as a bad ass." Garland said, "I got the reputation by eating with the prisoners, working out with them and by walking through the yard at night."

Garland said by doing these things he had gained the respect of the prisoners

"No one would ever be a leader if you are not respected," he said.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools