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Leading Kindness: College Students Grow Emotional Intelligence by Putting EQ into Action
What happens when college students stop studying leadership and start doing it — with 400 second-graders and first-year college students counting on them? At the University of Dubuque, 80 students led a citywide kindness festival and, compared to the control group, walked away measurably more effective, more resilient, and more confident. This study shows that young people don’t just grow by learning about EQ — they grow by putting it into action for others.
Overview
Situation: Universities invest in emotional intelligence education, but most approaches keep students in the role of learner. Research shows that applying skills in real-world contexts deepens development — yet few programs give students the chance to lead EQ experiences for others and measure what happens. The University of Dubuque (UD) has a mission grounded in whole-person education; one example is the personal empowerment course, where students learn and practice emotional intelligence as part of the general ed requirements.
Solution: UD partnered with Six Seconds and the City of Dubuque to create a citywide POP-UP Festival for Kindness, where trained college students led hands-on emotional intelligence activities for 400 second-graders in Dubuque’s public schools and participating first-year UD students. Student leaders received customized EQ training using the Six Seconds Model, then facilitated the festival — putting emotional intelligence into practice through service and leadership.
Results: 65% of student leaders improved in Effectiveness — compared to just 50% of peers who attended the same event but didn’t lead — with statistically significant growth (p = .046). Across every measure, leaders outperformed the control group, showing a protective “resilience” effect against typical mid-semester declines. Meanwhile, 90% of second-graders gave the festival their highest approval rating.
“This program is important because it gives Wendt Scholars and other UD students a real opportunity to put leadership and service into practice, not just talk about it. At the POP-UP, they’re engaging directly with the community, responding to real needs, and learning what it means to lead with purpose. That kind of hands-on experience is what turns ideas about leadership into something meaningful and lasting.”
— Dr. Liza Johnson, Director, Wendt Center for Character and Leadership, University of Dubuque
“I left feeling very confident and fulfilled — like we did something good.”
— UD Student Leader
“To actually be working with emotions when sometimes that’s not always allowed in a classroom… was just really empowering.”
— UD Student Leader
Situation
In higher education, emotional intelligence is increasingly recognized as essential — for student wellbeing, academic persistence, career readiness, and leadership. But most EQ programs position students as passive recipients of training. The research question at the heart of this project: What happens when students don’t just learn about EQ, but lead with it?
The University of Dubuque’s Wendt Center for Character and Leadership, directed by Dr. Liza Johnson, has long been committed to developing students as leaders of character. Through the Wendt Center for Character and Leadership’s 22-year history of curricular and co-curricular initiatives grounded in the University’s mission – supporting whole-person formation across campus – Dr. Johnson was inspired to create a real-world leadership challenge that would put character into action.
The opportunity came through Six Seconds’ global POP-UP Festival, the world’s largest social-emotional learning initiative, reaching 5 million+ people in 200+ countries in partnership with UNICEF World Children’s Day. For the first time, UD would host the largest university-based POP-UP Festival in the United States — bringing together the university, the Dubuque Community School District, and the City of Dubuque in a citywide celebration of kindness.
Solution
On October 7, 2025, more than 1,000 participants gathered on Chalmers Field at the University of Dubuque for the POP-UP Festival: Kindness. Four hundred second-graders from Dubuque Community School District rotated through interactive stations designed to build emotional literacy, empathy, and connection. Eighty college students led every activity.
But the festival was only one part of the design. In the weeks before, a group of student leaders — Wendt Character Scholars, teacher education students, nursing students, and personal empowerment students — received approximately 60 minutes of customized training on the Six Seconds Model of Emotional Intelligence and the rationale behind the POP-UP Festival. They learned how to facilitate SEL activities, manage group dynamics, and model emotional intelligence in action.
The evening before, Six Seconds CEO Joshua Freedman delivered the fall Michael Lester Wendt Character Lecture, setting the stage for the next day’s experience.
This type of community-based, relationship-centered ‘character in action’ experience has united the University of Dubuque, the Dubuque Community School District, and the City of Dubuque while supporting both college students and second-grade participants. The Wendt Center is committed to continuing and expanding this work to further develop leaders of character and strengthen community impact.
Results
The research design was quasi-experimental with pre/post assessment using the Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment (SEI):
Experimental group (49 matched pairs): Student leaders who received EQ training AND led festival activities
Control group (92 matched pairs): First-year UD students who attended the same festival as participants — but didn’t lead
This is a critical distinction: both groups experienced the event. The variable was the applied leadership role — the act of putting EQ into action.
Leadership Growth
65% of student leaders improved in Effectiveness, compared to just 50% of peers who attended the same event without the leadership role.
%
EQ GROWTH
p = .046
KID APPROVAL
Second-graders gave the festival a 90% weighted approval rating (329 responses) — the experience worked for kids AND college students.
%
EQ Service Builds Resilience
Notably, while the control group declined on Wellbeing, Quality of Life, and Relationships over the semester, the student leaders were buffered from these declines — suggesting leadership in service of others builds resilience.
Growing Through Challenge
In a post-event focus group, every student described a challenge-to-growth arc, and sentiment was overwhelmingly positive (6:1 ratio), with students reporting increased confidence, adaptability, and professional identity.
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Products & Services Delivered
EQ Skills
SEI – Six Seconds’ Emotional Intelligence Assessment is a validated psychometric tool for measuring emotional intelligence, used with over 1m people worldwide.
POP-UP Festival Toolkit
Six Seconds’ turnkey framework for community-based SEL events, reaching 5M+ participants globally in partnership with UNICEF World Children’s Day.
Customized EQ Training
Tailored preparation using the Six Seconds Model of Emotional Intelligence — Know Yourself, Choose Yourself, Give Yourself — equipping student leaders to facilitate with confidence and purpose.
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