FAYETTE, Iowa (June 24, 2008) -Upper Iowa University (UIU) was chosen by the Minneapolis-based leadership organization STLF-Students Today Leaders Forever!-to hold its annual week-long camp for high school students June 23-27.

               STLF was started in 2003 by four college freshman and today is a successful non-profit organization that specializes in youth programming, with an emphasis in leadership development. "The objective of the camp is to reveal leadership within the students," says Camp Co-Director Amanda Cashman. "We accomplish this through a variety of activities that include team building, learning about diversity, communication, and relationship development.

               There are 36 campers enrolled in the camp at UIU and when asked what criteria they needed to meet in order to qualify, Camp Co-Director Mike Forsberg stated, "We prefer an open admission policy. It is for those students who might not necessarily be the president of a club but want to be. They can come here to learn the skills on how to accomplish that."

               UIU Residence Life Coordinator Paul Dorman, hired a year ago from University of Minnesota-Crookston, was instrumental in getting STLF to come to the Fayette campus. "For the past several years they've held the camps on Crookston's campus," said Dorman. "When I suggested our campus as something new with different facilities, they saw what UIU had to offer and we made it happen." Most of the campers are from Illinois, North Dakota and Minnesota so the Fayette location was centrally located.

               Nine additional counselors will be on hand during the week to help run things, utilizing UIU's classroom facilities and outdoor areas. Recreational events include tubing the Volga, hiking to Chimney Rock, tap dance lessons and a formal banquet. In addition, because STLF promotes community service in all of its programs, the students will work on a service project coordinated with the local DNR-clean up of the Brush Creek area.

               STLF has 13 college chapters, numerous high school chapters and access partnerships. It received the 2008 Social Entrepreneur's Cup Award for its representation of social awareness and youth leadership development. For more information about STLF, go to its web site at www.stlf.net.

                For more information about Upper Iowa University, go to www.uiu.edu.

Contact:
Sheila Miller,
Director of Public Relations
Work - 563-425-5326
Cell - 319-610-7108
Fax - 563-425-5701
millers@uiu.edu
www.uiu.edu