As part of the Common Experience, all first-year students at NC State take the CliftonStrengths assessment. This tool helps the NC State community to deepen student and campus engagement, enhance campus culture, increase retention, improve well-being, develop leadership skills and help students consider post-graduation possibilities. 

Now, a new learning series called Strengthening the Pack helps advisors and student-serving professionals more fully understand CliftonStrengths and the resources and tools to provide individualized support and guidance to students. Using the CliftonStrengths results of both the advisor and student can help identify opportunities for learning beyond the classroom, on-campus involvement and campus resources that will help achieve academic goals and prepare for success after graduation.

Launched in fall 2021, 80 participants from five cohorts have already graduated from the program. Registration is now open via Reporter for the series in spring 2023. All sessions take place from 10 a.m. to noon at the following times and locations:

• February 8 | Witherspoon 201
• February 15 | Talley 3285
• February 22 | Talley 3285
• March 1 | Talley 3285
• March 8 | Talley 3285

What Graduates Are Saying

Shelly Hoover-Plonk, coordinator for student enhancement programs in the College of Engineering, is one of the graduates whose top five strengths are Positivity, Learner, Woo, Connectedness and Responsibility.

“It is worth the time for your professional development,” Hoover-Plonk said. “I gained much needed information to continue learning about myself and others in regards to Clifton Strengths. I also learned about how others are utilizing Clifton Strengths across campus and how this could be utilized in my work.  Adam [Culley] and his team have made each workshop engaging and interactive, and I looked forward to attending each workshop. This is a valuable professional development tool that I highly recommend to others at NC State.”

Here is what others are saying about the program:

“Participating in Strengthening the Pack helped me to better understand what I am good at and how to express that to others. It also helped me to think more about the partnerships that I participate in and how much everyone’s differences contribute to my team. I really enjoyed that it was very hands-on as well and feel like I got a lot out of it!” – Kayla Bowley, academic advisor for the Poole College of Management

“I’ve been able to leverage this training and understanding to work with my pre-service teachers and student ambassadors. We’ve overhauled our program and developed a training and framework that centers on using strengths and developing student leaders through what they naturally do well versus what they need to improve on. My students have loved every strengths session and activity we’ve done at the monthly meetings.” – Mike Steadman, assistant director of recruitment for the College of Education – Student Services and Academic Advising Center

“The Strengthening the Pack program helped me reflect on my strengths and understand them more deeply. I learned more about what ‘fills my bucket,’ and what I need out of a career and job to feel fulfilled. It also helped me think through why I dread certain tasks and how I can reframe the tasks and use my strengths to accomplish them. Strengthening the Pack truly helped me learn more about myself and how I work with others.” – Vanessa Bak, assistant director of advising and student affairs for Jenkins MBA

“My participation in Strengthening the Pack was formative for me as an advisor to our students. The tangible resources we received were beneficial when putting what I learned into practice with my students. The most effective part of the experience was practicing participating in those activities myself so I could understand how to facilitate it when it was my turn to lead. I would recommend this program to anyone who would like more resources for developing students and helping them to gain confidence in skills they already possess.” – Jenna Jeslis, coordinator for training and residential leadership in University Housing

Registration is now open for the spring series of Strengthening the Pack on Reporter. If you cannot attend the dates listed above, but are interested in future offerings, fill out this form or contact Adam Culley, assistant director of Student Leadership and Engagement, at 919.513.5087 or alculley@ncsu.edu for questions.

You can learn more about CliftonStrengths and other Student Leadership and Engagement programs here.