Southeast Missouri State University's First Year Leadership Program -- FyLP, pronounced "flip" -- is welcoming new students to register for fall sessions until Friday, Sept. 4. The program is for first-year students to find their inner leadership skills by completing a leadership style assessment and attending weekly meetings. If that is not enough to draw students in, FyLP participants will take a trip to the on-campus low ropes course.

"FyLP [is] a leadership club that really gives incoming freshmen a jump start in bettering their leadership skills," Janna Walker, who participated in the program last year, said. "[FyLP] gives students, especially those who are new to the campus, a chance to meet new people and learn about themselves and their type of leadership in the process."

In the past four years, the number of new participants has increased each year. According to Megan Murray, the coordinator for leadership development at Southeast, when the program started in 2010 it only had 28 participants. Last year, the program had grown to 128, and since the current fall registration has been open, more than 100 first-year students have signed up.

To accommodate the growth in members, FyLP has added a second session of every weekly meeting.

Essentially, both the meetings will be over the same content and are from 6-8 p.m., but participants can choose between attending the Tuesday or Thursday session.

"Participants take part in a variety of activities and purposeful games to gain skills in leadership, communication, time and stress management, conflict resolution and teamwork," Murray said. "We also sprinkle in some social events just for fun, bonding and community building."

According to Murray, typically the program is geared towards first-year students, or students with under 60 credit hours. However, Murray said she often makes exceptions for students with lots of transfer credit hours.

"I personally really enjoy seeing the progression of students from the beginning of the program to graduation at the end of the semester," Murray said. "It's so rewarding to see the amazing growth of the students and hearing how much the program has impacted them. Plus, it's a lot of fun watching the students participate in the activities -- they think they're just being silly and having fun, then during the discussion portion you get to see a lightbulb go off and can almost see them think 'Wow, I thought I was just having fun but I actually learned something.'"

Murray said that FyLP is an overall great program for new students to not only get involved and gain leadership skills, but also to discover yourself and learn about other people.

First-year students have the opportunity to meet more senior student leaders and start to network now.

The program is built to help students stand out in a crowd for both on- and off-campus opportunities.

"I think that the peer-to-peer aspect of the program really sets it apart," Murray said. "No one likes to be lectured at or worse lectured down to, especially in a co-curricular program so the participants really like having current students/former graduates of the program being the ones to teach them. Plus, I think that FyLP sets itself apart because it really has acted like a springboard for a great number of students in that they start with FyLP but from the skills they gain with us, soon they are employed on campus or they're resident assistants or the president of a student organization."

For additional information, email Murray at mmurray@semo.edu. The deadline to sign up is Sept. 4, and forms can be filled out on semo.wufoo.com/forms/fylp-registration-2015.