LLI East cohort
The fifth cohort of the Lasallian Leadership Institute (LLI) came to a close with the final gatherings of the three-year program in March on the East coast and in the Midwest. The concluding weekends gave participants a chance to reflect on their experiences and discuss how to implement what they have learned at their ministries.
Jolleen Wagner, Lasallian Volunteers Director, said a highlight of the final session was bearing witness to the power of presence. “In the awareness that this was our final gathering as a cohort, members shared insights, questions and hopes in an even more honest way,” she said.
Brother Tom Johnson, Vicar General, was the presenter and encouraged participants to reflect on their spiritual journeys to discover where they are being led, to look at the spirituality of leadership, and to reflect on their role as leaders in the Lasallian Mission.
LLI helped Rosemary Gediek, a Spanish teacher at La Salle College High School in Wyndmoor, PA, grow as a Lasallian. “I’ve become acutely aware of Saint La Salle’s exhortation to touch hearts first and foremost,” she said. “Teaching is certainly my vocation; how I approach my students has definitely been transformed. I have become more aware of myself as a role model and more often evaluate my actions and my interactions with my pupils; I have become more conscious of my potential impact on them.”
Rich Ward, Campus Minister at La Salle School in Albany, NY, compared his LLI experience to running a marathon. “After three years of workshops, conversations, and articles, I left the Poconos feeling like the training was over, and that I was standing at the starting line of a marathon, and the starting gun has been fired,” he said. “That nervous energy mixed with a general sense of excitement that something big is about to happen, but that it will require a great amount of focus and effort to get to the finish line.”
For participants, the “finish line” can be implementing what they learned at LLI in their schools and ministries. They also plan to keep alive the enthusiasm for the Lasallian Mission by staying in touch with cohort members and planning gatherings.
After 15 years, LLI is now on hiatus as it undergoes an evaluation to revamp the program for future needs.
LLI Midwest cohort