������ý����

Representatives from the Leadership Development Program (LDP) provided a workshop on Sept. 19 to help high school students explore the leader within themselves. The workshop exemplified ������ý����’s community value that leadership is derived by service to others.

LDP member Lori Tatum ’16 brought the idea to have LDP members facilitate a workshop for high school students to Laura Seplaki, associate director for the Center for the Development of Leadership Skills, last year.

“Lori was very passionate about designing a leadership workshop for high school students because she felt that not only could LDP members reconnect with the high schools they attended, the students would be provided valuable information that could benefit their leadership journeys while in high school,” Seplaki says.

With that seed planted, Seplaki recruited other members of the LDP to assist in designing and delivering the content. After months of planning a pilot workshop and developing a relationship with the administration at West Windsor Plainsboro High School, Tatum and Seplaki, along with Hannah Bass ’16 and Muhammad Sarwar ’15, conducted the workshop for the 20 students who comprise the four class councils at West Windsor Plainsboro South.

In the workshop, the LDP members facilitated discussions with the class councils about their views of leadership, their leadership strengths and what they hope their contributions to their class council will be this year. It was a time for the students to recognize their leadership abilities, bond as a team and develop goals, as well as an opportunity for the students to begin the conversation about how they will best serve and motivate their class throughout the year.

Michelle Walsh, lead counselor at West Windsor Plainsboro South, pioneered the effort with the LDP. “It was so great to have the ������ý���� LDP students connect with our class officers through this peer-to-peer training experience,” she says. “Our students now further understand the role of leaders in a school setting and also, through this workshop, discovered ways to enhance their own leadership skills and behaviors.”

After the workshop, Bass felt she had made a strong connection with the students. “I had the pleasure of working with the freshmen and I can see the dedication of that the group and that they will continue to make an impact as they continue their first year of high school,” she says. “Before we left, one of the students thanked me, and I hope to stay in contact with their advisor to continue to mentor the students."

The LDP hopes this will be the first of many opportunities for LDP members to connect with high school students and share with them the knowledge they have learned through the program and the numerous leadership opportunities ������ý���� has afforded them.