Hello, I am Kate Bradley, Head of the Middle School. I had the privilege of attending a leadership seminar at Lionsgate Country Club with the Student Council representatives and Middle School teachers, Mrs. Padberg and Mrs. Nagy. Miguel Jaramillo, a youth leadership training consultant from Synergy Services, designed and implemented the program.

The students gathered in a conference room at Lionsgate and were introduced to Miguel, while settling in and having a morning snack. Miguel started the training by telling the students that their commitment, desire and determination were the biggest indicators of their ability to become a leader. The students were asked to fill out a self-survey to ascertain their desire to become a leader and a perceived ability to perform the tasks required of a leader. The assessment was used to trigger the discussion on the strengths the students already possessed as leaders as well as areas that the students could improve upon. Throughout the session, Miguel challenged the students to constantly assess how they could impact their school with their leadership skills. What could they initiate? What could they model for their peers? What strengths did they bring to the Middle School? We then addressed leadership style. Did the students operate out of the authoritarian mode, or were they more likely to delegate tasks or perhaps they were more comfortable participating with the team approach? After much discussion, the students came to the conclusion that good leaders demonstrate all three leadership styles depending on the situation.

I now would like to introduce you to Jason, Elizabeth and Mahroosa who will tell you some of the highlights they gleaned from the training and how they will incorporate this knowledge.

Jason: As Student Council members, we should have a positive influence on the school and in the community. When someone is teasing another classmate, I step in and tell them not to pick on them. When we were collecting food cans for Harvester I tried to motivate students to participate by suggesting that the advisory with the most cans would get an extra ice cream day.

Elizabeth: We should take the initiative in our advisories and in school activities. We ask students for ideas on the school dance and then we bring those ideas to Student Council and we vote on them to decide which one we will do.

Mahroosa: A leader should have the confidence to disagree with his or her peers and state the truth in a difficult situation as well as propose a new solution. When we are trying to decide on themes for the school year, if the students say something that really doesn’t make sense on the topic, I try to make them understand why we can’t use their idea in a nice and approachable manner. I try to come up with new ideas that accommodate everyone.

I have been impressed with the leadership ability of our Middle School students. Offering students more opportunities to use those skills will only strengthen our community.