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Purpose Center

Current Students

Why Purpose Is Important

Purpose is a combination of who we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going. It’s where we find meaning. It’s what drives us forward. Research shows that graduates with high purpose in work are almost 10 times more likely to have high overall wellbeing. Exploring your purpose – whether as an individual or as a university – is the driver that pushes us onward. It propels us to try new things, to become more than we thought we could be. Whether you’re looking to connect to resources to help you pursue the things you’re passionate about or still trying to figure out what it is that drives you, the Purpose Center can help.

Get Started With Purpose

  1. Find Connections

    Sign up for a free 45-60 minute Purpose and Fit session with a staff member from the WVU Purpose Center, and we will work together to find connections and resources to help you get on a path that excites and motivates you!

  2. Dig Deeper

    After you meet with a Purpose Center staff member, start connecting to the resources provided or attend a Purpose Center workshop to help you dig deeper.

  3. Keep Moving

    Meet with a Purpose Center staff member again. Following up on the progress you've made can help you continue to move forward and can help keep you on track if the path changes. Remember, you can meet with the Purpose Center as often as you need.

Why CliftonStrengths®?

Here at West Virginia University, we use CliftonStrengths® as a tool to help you learn more about how you show up for yourself and others in a variety of ways. Based on years of positive psychology research, the strengths assessment measures natural patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Learning your top strengths will give you insight into your unique talents, to help you learn more about what you’re naturally good at and how to apply those talents productively. Learn how to apply your strengths academically, in the career space, leadership and even wellbeing areas. By leaning into your strengths, you’ll be able to grow and develop your skills to help you continue to pursue the things you're passionate about as you build community.

  • Graduates who align their work with their interests, values and strengths are roughly 3x more likely to experience high purpose in work.
  • The odds of undergraduate student thriving in their wellbeing increase by 4.1x if they strongly agree: “At this school I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.”
  • The odds of undergraduate student thriving in their wellbeing increase by 3.6x if they strongly agree: “I apply my strengths at school.”
  • The odds of undergraduate student thriving in their wellbeing increase by 3.3x if they strongly agree: “I use my strengths in many situations.”
  • The odds of undergraduate student thriving in their wellbeing increase by 3.0x if they strongly agree: “I know my strengths.”
More On Strengths

Get Started With Strengths

  1. Take the Assessment

    Take the CliftonStrengths® assessment (you may have already done this at New Student Orientation). If you haven't, start by requesting a strengths assessment code by emailing purpose@mail.wvu.edu.

  2. Read Your Report

    Read your Strengths for Students or Top Five Report and highlight phrases and words that resonate with you.

  3. Sign Up for a Coaching Session or Workshop

    Meet with staff from the Purpose Center for a 1-on-1 coaching session or register for a Strengths 101 workshop to learn more about your strengths.

  4. Reach Your “Why”

    Think about how you will use your strengths to reach your “why,” and remember it can change over time. Continue attending other strengths workshops to better understand how to use your strengths in the classroom, your future career, leadership opportunities and even your wellbeing.

How Strengths Can Benefit Your Team

Investing in our strengths helps us understand not only how we show up for ourselves, but how we show up for others. Learning to appreciate our own strengths and the strengths of others can help us form stronger, more productive partnerships and teams. If you are part of a student organization or group, consider signing up for a team session individualized to your team needs. Sign up for a group session to learn more about how the individual strengths of your team work together to build a strong community.

Team coaching sessions come with additional tools to continue the conversation including a team grid and individual participant reports, as well as access to continued learning materials.

How We Can Help

Check out coaching sessions, workshop and pod opportunities for current students. Whether you’re looking to connect to resources or feeling lost on what to do next, the Purpose Center can help. Email purpose@mail.wvu.edu to get started today.

Strengths 101

Students 60 minutes

Learn some quick history and facts and then dive into some reflection and practical application for your top five strengths. We recommend this workshop ahead of attending others.

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Strengths 102: Theme Dynamics

Students 60 minutes

Explore your top five strengths and how they interact with each other to help you be successful. Look at how your top five strengths interact with strengths both similar and different from your own to help you build stronger partnerships.

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Career Pods

Students 60 minutes

Open to any undergraduate, graduate, or professional student from any major. Students are required to attend all three sessions as well as complete a 1:1 Coaching Session with a Career Service’s Specialist or a Purpose Center staff member.

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All 34 Strengths Training

Students 90 minutes

This 90-minute training digs deeper into all 34 strengths. Learning more in-depth about all 34 strengths can help you build better partnerships with teammates and understand different communication and conflict-resolution perspectives.

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Authentic Personal Branding for Students

Students 60 minutes

Discover your WHY and values utilizing your CliftonStrengths®. Get a deeper understanding of creating intentional personal branding and a personal statement to use on linked in, networking, or in job/internship interviews.

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Leadership Pod

Students 90 minutes

Learn your top 5 CliftonStrengths® and how to leverage them to become a stronger, more effective leader. Learn about: Your own leadership styles and the effectiveness of each style, needs of your followers, and how to provide strengths-based feedback.

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Purpose Pods for Students

For those looking to do more self-exploration. Start with self-discovery and end with a project that helps you set goals to pursue the things they’re passionate about.

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Wellbeing Pods

Students 90 minutes

A collaboration with the WVU Carruth Center and help students focus on creating better wellbeing habits throughout the semester based on the things they’re naturally good at. Students are required to attend all three sessions.

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Creating Glimmers: How Full Is Your Bucket

Students 60 minutes

Discover how to create glimmers—tiny moments of goodness and joy for yourself and others—and learn how these glimmers in combination with Don Clifton’s theory of “Bucket Filling” can positively impact your productivity, health, and longevity.

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Exploring Resilience: Building Self-Efficacy

Students 60 minutes

Explore the concept of resilience by evaluating your current level of resilience, exploring your thinking style, and building self-efficacy strategies.

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Financial Literacy Pod

Students 60 minutes

During this 3-part financial literacy series, you will be equipped with the foundational knowledge and practical skills needed to manage your finances responsibly and plan for the future. From setting up and utilizing the right financial accounts to tracking money effectively and making informed financial decisions, these presentations aim to teach you how to take control of your financial well-being and build a solid financial future.

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Identifying Your Values For Students

Students 60 minutes

Identify your core values, define what they mean to you, and think about how you can live those values in your everyday life to start working toward your purpose.

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Strengths-Based Careers and Goal Setting for the Job/Internship Search

Students 60 minutes

Open with a Strengths refresher to become familiar with your strengths. Receive a personal insight report and reflect on how your personal insights influence your career choices and challenges. Set intentional career-based goals.

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Leveraging Failure: Leading Yourself Through Challenges

Students 60 minutes

Establish your perspective on success and failure, and explore four ways resilient people navigate challenges and create strategies for working them into their daily lives.

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Strengths-Based Communication: Brings/Needs and Barrier Labels

Students 60 minutes

Learn how to talk about what you bring to a team with your strengths, needs based on your strengths and how to put boundaries in place so the barrier labels of your strengths don’t pop up, or when they do, how to manage them for better wellbeing.

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Strengths-Based Feedback

Students 60 minutes

In this session you’ll learn how to more frequently give both positive and constructive feedback and how to incorporate strengths into daily performance and recognition.

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Strengths-Based Interviewing

Students 60 minutes

Learn interviewing tactics and practice answering interview questions. Learn to tailor your answers to the job and how to incorporate your CliftonStrengths® into your interview answers.

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Life Mapping for Students

Students 60 minutes

Draw connections between what seem to be random events or interests in your life to a purpose, then apply those insights as well as your top five CliftonStrengths® to create a personal statement for networking, mentorship and during interviews.

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Strengths-Based Job/Internship Search and Resumes

Students 60 minutes

Explore job/internship resources and how to create an effective search plan based on your dominant strengths domain. Learn how to incorporate your Strengths into your resume and have your resume reviewed.

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Power of Positive Thinking

Students 60 minutes

Identify negative thinking, explore the health and wellbeing benefits of positive thinking, and reframe negative self-talk into positive thoughts and behaviors to increase wellbeing and success.

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Purpose Vision Board Workshop

Students 60 minutes

Create a purpose vision board as a visual representation of your goals, dreams, purpose and values to help you reinforce daily the things that you value, and help you maintain focus on your goals.

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Strengths-Based Leadership Style and Effectiveness

Students 60 minutes

Learn more about different leadership styles, how your natural talents and abilities might lend themselves to certain leadership styles, and reflect through an activity hosted by Adventure WV on how you can continue to craft your unique leadership style.

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Self-Leadership Strategies

Students 60 minutes

Understand how to reduce negative cues, increase positive cues and be more mindful of the ways you can increase confidence and holistic success.

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Strengths-Based Salary Negotiation

Students 60 minutes

In the final session, we will talk about how to leverage your strengths in the salary negotiation process and practice to build confidence.

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Strengths to Combat Imposter Syndrome

Students 60 minutes

Dig into how Imposter Syndrome shows up for you and how you can use strengths-based strategies to fight back against those feelings of inadequacy!

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Strengths to Minimize Overwhelm

Students 60 minutes

In this one-hour CliftonStrengths® workshop, we will dig into what motivates us to overcommit while learning techniques for aligning commitments with values and calendars. We will wrap up by learning strategies to set boundaries and say no.

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Strengths and Study Abroad

Students 60 minutes

Help students explore how their strengths contribute to their communication style, how to leverage their strengths to manage conflict, and utilize the team grid to understand others in the group, build partnerships, and find roommates for the trip.

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Understanding the Strengths of Others: Needs of Followers

Students 60 minutes

In this session, we’ll learn about the research behind the four needs of followers, how you can better understand those you lead, and how you can better understand the strengths of those you lead.

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Lauren Marquart

Wheeling, WV Elementary Education Student

Top 5 Strengths

Strategic®, Responsibility®, Discipline®, Focus®, Competition®

Upon receiving my full 34 report, I gained a better understanding of my strengths and talents, which have helped me to become more efficient in my approach to life. I believe if I had access to this resource during my K-12 education, I could have come to a place of self-understanding earlier in life, which would have helped me in the long run. For example, as a future educator, I strongly believe using strengths as a tool among fellow educators could be extremely beneficial in situations of co-teaching, team teaching, and faculty senate, as staff will be knowledgeable of each other's strengths and experiences to better collaborate and create the best possible environment for students.