Powerful Student Leadership

Since transferring to Saint Mary’s more than two and a half years ago, Laura Halper experienced first-hand the changes and challenges that have been a part of the development of the club lacrosse team.

Halper transformed the team since joining in the spring of 2007. “My first year the Saint Mary’s team was mostly Notre Dame women,” she recalls. “These past two years there has been a real switch from majority Notre Dame players, to majority Saint Mary’s players and is mostly freshmen and sophomores this year.”

The senior elementary education major is in her second season of being the student-run club’s President. She organizes practice times and dates with her team, schedules games, and coordinates travel to away competition sites among various other duties at the helm of the program.

Laura first stepped into the role of leading the club last year. While studying abroad, she was contacted by then advisor Becky Foster to see if she would be interested in taking over the club after returning from Rome. Trying to organize and schedule games for the team after returning to the States in January was overwhelming and difficult. “It was a challenging year since the season started at the same time I got back to campus, so I was trying to get all the information in order while at the same time holding practices.”

A year after taking over the reins of the club, Laura has been able to schedule a full slate of games for the team this season, including a tournament at Saint Mary’s April 4-5 with teams from the University of Michigan, Ball State University, and Davenport University.

The experience of heading such an independently organized group on campus has brought its advantages with the hurdles Laura and the club have had to clear.

“My experience with the team has taught me to be very proactive and take advantage of the time I have,” she said about being with the team and being the coordinator for the group on the Saint Mary’s and Notre Dame campuses. “It has shown me that I can accomplish tasks that may at first seem quite daunting. I have learned how to communicate clearly and effectively with others, whether it is the players on my team, referees, league coordinators, or other team personnel.”

It is a lesson that will make teaching second-graders look like a walk in the park.