Sept. 14, 2015
Kyle Guthrie
[email protected]
The Student Center for Public Trust chapter focuses on the importance of ethics inherent in leadership positions in areas such as work environment, sports and the military.
Caitlin Dougan, a junior accounting major, joined the club through a class recommendation.
“I’m actually in the Chancellor’s Leadership Class, and our director sent off an email saying how successful this (club) was and encouraging us to check it out,” Dougan said. “So I said ‘Sure, OK, I’ll come, I have some time,’ and it sort of grew from there.”
Dougan, who said she has liked the club so far, explained how she helped with community outreach by teaching local children how to use social media.
“We went into Monument Academy and we created a sort of curriculum to teach kids how to use the iPads they were given,” Dougan explained. “I covered cyberbullying and I talked to them about how to identify it and what to do about it. I also went a little further and talked about proper reporting.”
President Matthew Yersak, a senior marketing major, stressed the importance of their lessons in the real world.
“The Student Center for Public Trust is all about ethical leadership,” Yersak said. “It can plot any degree path from nursing to military, anything where you need ethical leadership.”
Yersak emphasized the networking connections that the organization could assist students with.
“The networking portion is incredibly important as well, with different CEOs in the Colorado area and the nation,” Yersak said. “I encourage everyone to join because of all the opportunities you can get from it.”
The Daniels Fund, a grant that aims to help community groups with a focus on leadership, has recently awarded the student group.
Elisabeth Moore, ethics initiative coordinator for the College of Business and advisor for the SCPT, discussed the impact of the Daniels fund on the school and community.
“(The Daniels Fund is) very interested in spending their money on things that promote ethical leadership,” Moore said. “And the Student Center for Public Trust is something they would like to adopt as their premier club.”
“We are using that fund to really reach out across campus. That grant flows directly into the college of business. There is no overhead, it’s just for student opportunities that other grants can’t provide,” she said.
For keeping track of the amount of money in a campus group, Moore explained that the SCPT has accounting for the funds taken care of.
“We have an annual report we give out every year to the Daniels Fund, and it’s also posted online for everyone to see,” Moore said. “The impact is large, we have reached thousands of students, and I can’t do it without students from the Student Center for Public Trust to help with that.”