Robilotta inspires laughter to grow

Student Senate sponsored speaker James Robilotta to give a leadership development seminar to CSC students Tuesday in the Student Center Ballroom.
The seminar had two sessions, “More Action, Less Title: Empowering Student Leaders To Do More” at 4 p.m., and “Will They Make Fun of My Sheets?” at 7 p.m.
Robilotta, a native New Yorker, is a professional speaker, personal coach, and author.
In the leadership session, he used his own college experiences as a new student, and an RA, to help relate his information to the audience. He focused on three things that a leader should do: challenge, motivate, and appreciate.
He explained how important a leader can be in an individual’s life, and good tips to make a strong first impression, and have a working positive relationship.
At the later session, Robilotta opened with an anecdote about dislocating his knee at his senior prom.
“I encourage you to laugh with me, or at me,” Robilotta said.
After describing a few more of his personal traits through stories and jokes, Robilotta asked the audience to share some of their own.
“I think we as humans bond over our weird quirks,” he said.
Robilotta said that college is the time for us to figure out why we are who we are. Yet he said college was miserable for him at first. He was homesick and lonely, until the day he received an invite to the hall student government meeting.
He had found his place in college and everything turned around.
He encouraged the students to try something new. He said college is the perfect time to start.
“We have to always be working at writing our story,” he said.
Robilotta told students instead of being quick to judge, we should listen to people’s stories and start appreciating each other more to support our campus community.
He warned the audience not to get stuck in our daily patterns and live a safe life. Instead, find something that keeps you moving.
“Talking about passion is cheesy, but I fricken love cheese y’all,” Robilotta joked.
On a serious note, he ended by saying that living with purpose is what pushes us through the hard times. Without it, we’re stuck.