Hi-Ed Youth leadership program kicks off with 20 students
Students line up the hallway in anticipation of the kickoff session for the Youth Leadership Program held at Hi-Ed.
During the Youth Leadership Program’s kickoff session, Savannah Casey led a discussion with students asking them to define leadership and what qualities make effective leaders.
Students line up the hallway in anticipation of the kickoff session for the Youth Leadership Program held at Hi-Ed.
During the Youth Leadership Program’s kickoff session, Savannah Casey led a discussion with students asking them to define leadership and what qualities make effective leaders.
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Twenty students began the Warren Forest Higher Education Council's Youth Leadership Program with a kickoff session at Hi-Ed.
Throughout the year, participants will visit places around Warren County, meet community leaders and develop skills they can use in school and beyond. This year's group includes the program's first youth mentors, Kaylee Arnold and Trenton Wright. Both high school students participated in the program previously. They will serve as guides with the new group throughout the year.
Defining leadership was a discussion led by Savannah Casey. Students shared what qualities they admire in effective leaders. John Papalia, Hi-Ed executive director, spoke about community leadership and how people with different strengths and roles work together to make a community run well.
Students also practiced communication and negotiation skills, reflected on their own strengths and chose an area to which they would like to see themselves improve during the year.
"One thing that stood out was how often the students named kindness as a quality of a good leader," said Angie Bigelow, Hi-Ed assistant director and creator of the program. "They were engaged from the start and seemed to connect with one another right away."
Bigelow leads the program with Hi-Ed's Emily Magnuson. She said the sessions help students see that leadership can take many forms and with practice, skills develop.
"At this age, students are figuring out who they want to be," Bigelow said. "We want them to recognize the strengths they already have, discover what they can work on and meet people in our community who put leadership into practice. I wish I had understood at their age just how much I was capable of growing."
The group's October session will take place at 3 Pillarz Farm in Columbus. The visit is new to the program this year and will introduce students to agriculture and entrepreneurship.
"I'm excited to travel through Warren County with this group and show them the possibilities here," Bigelow said. "Wherever they eventually choose to build their futures, the leadership skills they develop will go with them."