Every student can learn to be a leader.

That was the message of a three-day conference the NAACP sponsored on campus this week.

Featured speakers, all leaders in their professions, told students that leadership can be learned. It requires developing many qualities, including diplomacy, courage, logic and the ability to motivate others.

“There is no one thing when it comes to leadership,” said Jimmy Bryant, director of archives and special collections at Torreyson Library. Bryant, who also teaches history and is a justice of the peace, spoke to a meeting for male students Monday.

Leaders have to be considerate of others and help them solve their problems, Bryant said. “When you see a problem, do you wait for someone else to fix it or do you do it?” he asked. Leaders have the courage to confront problems and the intelligence to find solutions, he said.

Cathy Davenport, a consultant who spoke to a meeting for female students Tuesday, explained ways that students can motivate others and cultivate relationships, both essential elements of leadership.

Everette C. Maltbia, pastor of True Holiness Saints Center in Conway, emphasized the importance of religion in leadership. He warned students not to forget about God.

“Success can be your enemy, because you start to think money made you, when God did,” Maltbia said.

He also stressed that leaders need confidence.

“Confidence is vital to success,” Maltbia said. “True confidence is knowing and excepting yourself.”