The Benefits of CGTI

Students who attend CGTI will develop leadership skills, learn about healthy decision making, and will be empowered to return home with plans for positive change. CGTI attendees will learn about facilitation, effective communication, goal setting, critical thinking and more.

Future Readiness

CGTI attendees will leave with tangible skills and experience that help create robust college and job applications, including 22 service/volunteer hours for our summer conference and 11 for our winter conference. Students will become well-rounded leaders through keynotes, workshops, large and small group team building and peer collaboration.

Safety

CGTI is led by trained Volunteer Staff who are tasked with not only fostering positive peer collaboration, but also supporting a safe and healthy environment for learning 24/7. There is a registered nurse on site and an 8-person Care Team responsible for making sure all attendees have access to the care and support they may need. Many students attend with Adult Mentors, who can offer additional support. Our Volunteer Staff and Care Team are trained prior to events on:

• Social Emotional Learning

• Trauma-Informed Care

• Crisis Response

• Emergency Procedures

• Healthy Group Dynamics 

• Positive Peer Collaboration

• And more!

Overnight Stay

CGTI participants are housed in dorms on Eastern Illinois University’s campus in the summer and rooms at the Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in the winter. At both events, students are able to pick their roommates and are assigned floors based on gender, age and Action Team. Each floor is supervised by trained Volunteer Staff and Care Team. Meals are provided at both venues and dietary restrictions and allergies are provided to both dining staff as well as the nurse, who also handles all conference medication for minors.

Cost

CGTI offers scholarships to individual students and Teams new to the event! Scholarships cover room and board, meals for the duration of the conference, event materials and a theme shirt. It’s our goal that funding is never an obstacle for our attendees! You can learn more about pricing levels for each event under their separate tabs.