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.

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.