For the past three years, the McDonough Center at Marietta College and the local chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) have offered the citizens of Marietta, Ohio, a unique Great Decisions program.

The McDonough Leadership Program trains undergraduate students from various disciplines to learn how to engage people, communicate ideas and organize meetings – along with other leadership skills. One of the goals of the leadership program is to have students develop and practice community-building skills by engaging in projects on- and off-campus.

According to the Dean of the McDonough Center, Gama Perruci, the local AAUW chapter partnered with the Center to offer Great Decisions to the members of the AAUW and the greater-Marietta Community in southeast Ohio.

Now in its third year, the Great Decisions program has 30-35 members who meet each Sunday for six weeks, each spring. Many members return each year, made up from the range of students, to professionals, to retirees.

To prepare for each session, participants are required to read the Great Decisions article that will be discussed during that week. A faculty member from Marietta College will then give a one-hour presentation on the topic. At the conclusion of the remarks, the McDonough Center students take over - applying their training to facilitate discussion of the Great Decisions topics. At the end of this one-hour discussion period, the students ask the group members to fill out the opinion ballots for the topic. When the National Opinion Ballot Report is published later in the year, the Center sends copies to all who participated.

Dr. Perruci described the Great Decisions program as a "win-win" for the McDonough Center and the community. For the Center, it provides the students an opportunity to fulfill the Center's mission of serving the community, while providing students with practical leadership experience. One student is chosen to coordinate the entire program for the year, selecting facilitators and promoting the sessions. For each session, there is always one "upper-class" student with experience in facilitating Great Decisions and one freshman who can learn from his or her colleague.

Community members can rely of the Center to line-up interesting speakers and to provide capable facilitators so that they get the most out of their discussions. The success of the program has increased the word-of-mouth in the community, and the Center is considering starting a second discussion group.

When the McDonough Leadership Program students graduate, it is hoped that they will start Great Decisions groups in their communities. These future leaders will be able to use their skills to help FPA to fulfill its mission - to strengthen U.S. democracy by brining people together to become more involved and more educated citizens.