Early Saturday morning, the campus is relatively quiet. Across from the Manetti Shrem Museum, however, students gather inside the UC Davis Conference Center. As they check-in, find their name tags, grab breakfast and mingle, featured morning speaker Christina L. Jackson prepares to give her keynote address.

The “Aggies Leading the Way!” Undergraduate Leadership Conference is the largest annual event hosted by the Center for Leadership Learning. Around 200 students attend each year — a number constrained only due to facility capacity.

For 2024, the conference’s theme centered on mapping journeys.

“We selected this theme because … we can all get so consumed with the end goal and what we want to accomplish,” said center director Christie Navarro. “Sometimes we forget to enjoy the in-between, especially when it throws us challenges. It’s important to focus not just on the end goal, but what you can do in that in-between: to experience happiness and joy [and] learn how to get over those hurdles.”

This time, it’s personal

After the morning speech, the ballroom and conference room doors open and students rise to attend their next activity. Here, things get interesting: instead of following a uniform program order, students select their next destination from an assortment of workshop topics.

“What makes Aggies Leading the Way! special is the variety of workshops that we offer,” explained Sona Khachiyan, a student intern leader with the center. “You have many to choose from and whatever feels right that day, you can attend.”

This structure provides a personalized journey, allowing each student to determine which workshops best fit their interests. During the next three-hour block, conference presenters engage with students on 15 different topics, ranging from leading with intention to practicing self-discipline.

“It’s pretty open-ended,” said first-year student Noah Sonet. “So you get to find your own conclusions.”

A clearer sense of direction

By the end of the workshop sessions, students walk away with strategies to help them on their unique journey — whether that means using the philosophy of Ikigai to figure out your purpose in life or using the Alumni Association to build your network.

The day concludes with an afternoon activity, A Win is a Win. Modeled after the board game Chutes and Ladders, players advance several spaces on the board when they reach a ladder and go back several spaces when they land on a chute. The ladders represent actions that bring students closer to their destination, while chutes represent challenges and setbacks.

As they play, activity host Susana Lopez encourages students to name specific actions they can take to reach their goals and overcome the obstacles that challenge them.

“It’s a great way to understand yourself as a college student,” Sonet said. “I feel like when you’re entering college you don’t really have that sense of direction and this conference is a great way for you … to figure out your interests.”