Camp L.E.O. is a new leadership three-day camp designed for incoming freshmen at the University of North Alabama.
“[Camp L.E.O] is the start of the development experience for incoming students,” said Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development Matthew Jones. “I’m hoping that our current student leaders can inspire and motivate our new generation of student leaders.”
The camp is an acronym for leadership enhancement opportunity, and its participants will be presented with leadership workshops, mental and physical games, team-building activities, bonding exercises and more. The 48 participants will be separated into groups of eight, led by peer leaders, who are current UNA leaders serving as mentors.
“Smaller groups are a little bit more effective than larger groups for when people start to go through this development phase,” he said.
The camp is a part of UNA’s Welcome Week and Mane Month, and it will take place from Aug. 22 through Aug. 24 of 2025 at Earle Trent Assembly, Lauderdale County, AL.
Jones and Dasha Starovoitova, a Student Development graduate student and co-director of the camp, came up with the idea after conducting research through UNA leaders’ focus groups.
They discovered that “sometimes leadership and student leaders are often presented with competitive opportunities here, whether it’s Step Sing, homecoming, or just who can be the best organization or who can be the best group on campus,” Jones said.
Jones and Starovoitova pitched the idea of Camp L.E.O. to current student leaders and received positive feedback. From then on, they worked on designing the program and received inspiration from the University of Cincinnati’s Camp Bearcats and other freshmen-focused leadership camps throughout the country.
The date has been set for the weekend after Fall 2025 classes start because Jones wants students to already be acclimated with UNA, but not yet too busy with classwork.
“We’re gonna start small, we’re gonna see how we do, we’re gonna work out any kinks with the program, and then we’re gonna look to grow over the years,” said Jones.
Registration is currently open for participants and peer leaders, and it will close on Apr. 6. Students interested in applying can visit https://www.una.edu/student-activities/camp-leo.html.
