Another graduation ceremony took place in the first week of May, but it wasn’t the usual Ball State student commencement. Instead, the Spring 2025 class of the Leadership Excellence and Development Academy (LEAD) celebrated the end of their program. This class included IT’s very own Elle Kreamer.  

Kreamer is a Video Producer at the Digital Corps and guides student employees with their video work and projects. At the end of the fall, Associate Vice President Brandon Smith and Vice President Loren Malm decided that Kreamer would be great for the program and nominated her to enter the Spring cohort of LEAD. 

“I was pretty excited,” said Kreamer. “It honestly became a nice way thing to get away and learn some new stuff outside of office and connect with others around the University.”  

During the Spring semester, Kreamer spent 16 Wednesday mornings in three-hour classes that taught her advanced leadership skills through multiple modules with different topics for each class. She then had the ability to apply these skills in the office setting. 

For example, Kreamer has started the restructuring of the staff meetings at the Digital Corps after learning about time management, mindful meetings, and design thinking.  

“One day I sat down with Annie [The Digital Corps Training Facilitator] and said, ‘I’ve been thinking about some things and talking with some staff members, and we felt like our meetings were not being used as effectively as possible.’” Kreamer noted. “So, we talked to Brandon about it and now we have a new section in our meetings that review our goals that we set at our staff retreat each summer.”   

At the end of the program, those who attended the classes celebrated their achievements with a 5-minute presentation representing their time in the class. They had the opportunity to share what they had learned with their fellow classmates and leaders from the University.  

Next time you see her, be sure to congratulate her on this impressive accomplishment!