Students filled the J.W. Smith Student Center on October 25th for Glendale Community College’s annual IDEA Student Leadership Conference hosted by ASGCC with the support of Student Affairs it was a day dedicated to inclusion, diversity, equity, and advocacy.
The event began at 9:30 a.m. with breakfast and check-in before opening remarks from the IDEA Committee. Keynote speaker Lasana Hotep encouraged students to think about leadership as something that begins with inclusion and continues through everyday action. His words reminded the audience that leadership isn’t about holding power, but it’s about using your influence to lift others.
After the keynote, students joined breakout sessions including Healing Leadership, Disability Inclusion, Self-Care in a Demanding World, and Mattering and Marginality. Each workshop was different in its own way, like some were informational sessions on the disability center on campus and what resources they provided and others were about student parents and how to manage being in school and being a parent.
Dean of Student Affairs Tzoler Oukayan said IDEA began five years ago during the pandemic to make leadership development accessible to every student. “We realized there aren’t many leadership opportunities that are truly accessible, so we wanted to build that space here at GCC for free,” she said. “The purpose of IDEA is to help students build capacity and understand their ability to impact the communities and spaces they occupy as leaders.”
Lunch followed the first round of sessions, giving everyone time to connect and reflect on what they had learned. Afternoon workshops continued with topics such as Careers for a Cause, UndocuAdvocate, and Who Is This Actually For where these sessions tied leadership to real-world impact and community action.
Oukayan added that IDEA started online during the pandemic but now thrives as an in-person experience. “Through IDEA, we hope students connect with others, see the value of their roles on campus and in their communities, and recognize the impact they can make,” she said. “Glendale College builds belonging by creating spaces where all students feel safe, seen, and capable of achieving their goals.”
For many students, the conference offered a chance to see themselves as part of something larger. Mia Marekhashvili, a member of the ASGCC Relations Committee, said she came because the event reflected her own beliefs. “I came to the conference because it’s all about inclusion, diversity, and equity, and those are exactly my beliefs,” she said. “I come from a very diverse background, Georgian, Kurdish, and Armenian, so the second I saw the word diverse, I knew I had to join.”
She also said the sessions reminded her that leadership is about helping others. “Leadership today means helping those who can’t yet speak up,” Marekhashvili said. “I hope to learn how to do that better.”
The day ended at 2:30 p.m. with a raffle, group photos, and the distribution of certificates for completing the conference. Oukayan said these moments represent what IDEA is about, growth through connection. “We want students who might never cross paths to connect, learn from one another, and help us grow too,” she said.
Organizers encouraged anyone who missed this year’s IDEA Conference to attend next year. What began online has now become a full in-person experience that celebrates community and shared leadership. It’s more than just a conference, but it is a reminder that leadership begins with inclusion and continues with how we show up for each other each day.