Holly Richardson, Mike Krackow, Jack Johnson, Chad Joyce and James Coale
Department of Physical Education, Virginia Military Institute
Teaching through Leading:The Virginia Military
Rat Challenge Program
Introduction
• VMI - state supported school• Citizen Soldier and ROTC• Graduate individuals with strong leadership
skills• Over 200 leadership opportunities
Leadership Opportunities
• Regimental• Athletics• Peer Counseling• Band and Glee• Search and Rescue• Pre Professional programs
The Rat Challenge Program
• Experiential-Ten weeks• Physical, mental, emotional• Supportive and positive• Reflective of the Regimental • Esprit de corps
Rat Challenge existing in anAdversarial System
Objectives
Determine value and worth of the program compared to other
leadership programs
Determine the extent participation contributed to development of leadership skills
Methods
• Post program evaluation– Qualitative-open ended questions– Quantitative-Likert type of questions
• Convenient sampling 57/80 (71%) Cadre
Results-Effectiveness
• How do you rank the effectiveness of the cadre role as a means of developing leadership skills?More effective 32.8%Most effective 58.6%
Results-Value
• Given the educational mission of the Institute, how valuable for the cadre is the Rat Challenge experience?
Very valuable 34.5%Extremely valuable 62.1%
Results: Ability, Skills, & Unity
• Percentage of responses that were a ‘great deal’ or quite a lot’– Leadership ability 91.2%– Decision making skills 87.7%– Communication skills 91.2%– Develop unity of spirit 94.7%
Cadre Comments
• ‘More PT (physical training)’• ‘More privileges’• ‘Better than even my Reg. staff position for leadership
development.’• ‘Taught me I should prepare before instructing’• ‘It helped me understand what I wanted my
leadership style to be.’
Conclusion
• Valuable
• Effective
Discussion-Why? How?
• Based on theory and practice• Supervised• Environment
Questions