The Maricopa County Community College District held the annual Global Leadership Retreat in early November at Lake Pleasant. The first retreat was held in 2008.

There were more than 65 participants from all over the Maricopa Community College system including Rio Salado Community College, Mesa Community, Glendale, Phoenix, Scottsdale Community and others.

“Because first I saw the advertisement on the Rio Salado website, so I was excited and I had a look, it says that the event is about cultural and making friends, and kind of promote leadership, I am curious was it about, so I decided to join, this is cool, and I will learn something from it,” said, Van Tran, one of the Rio Salado student participants from Vietnam.

In the retreat, the participants learned about other cultures, discovered intercultural communication strategies, practiced conflict resolution in a super fun way and recognized different leadership styles across the country.

Additionally, the participants also enjoyed making and building new connections with other attendees.

The chairman of this year Global Leadership Retreat, Therese Tendick, mentioned that every year there is a unique environment due to the different personalities of the participants.

“This group is a little bit different, this year everybody really got serious and engaged about their discussion, more academic group, more thoughtful and engaged at creating something and resolve the conflict,” Tendick said.

Many participants found this retreat as one of their unforgettable moments. It was a place to find a new family, to learn and to get out of the comfort zone.

One of the U.S. participants, Esteban Espinoza, highly recommended this event to all Maricopa Community College students to join the retreat next year.

“This is definitely a great experience for anybody, even if you think there is nothing special about you, it is definitely worth going to, because you meet people from different backgrounds, you might find something about yourself, you never knew, and this place really guided me out of my comfort zone,” Espizona said.

Since Global Leadership retreat is annual event, it will be opened for all MCCCD students at least 18 years of age, in good academic standing and with a minimum GPA of 2.0, an open mind, and willingness to share experiences.