WTAMU’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) hosted a “Leading the Way” conference Jan. 26 to give local high school students a taste of what college is about.

“We try to teach students how to focus on problems that are going on in the community and find a solution for it,” Erin Stodghill, project manager for SIFE, said. “We will give them a local problem that they will be able to see and touch and try to find a solution for.”

Student Body President Brandy Roberts welcomed the students and spoke about the importance of leadership.

“I think teaching leadership to high school students is very important because for me, I had to learn the hard way without having a conference like this,” Roberts said.Dr. Lavelle Mills, Associate Dean of College Business, also spoke to the students and gave them teamwork-building exercises, which included pre-planning and strategically stacking tinker toys as high as they could without the tower falling.

“I’ve learned some skills on how to be a leader and skills that I might use in the future.” Ashlea Vonkhamphra, a junior from Caprock High School, said.