Leadership Lake
County- Junior Leadership Academy
Leadership Lake County was
founded in 1986 by a prominent group of community leaders to ensure a
continued legacy of committed, diverse, and well informed leaders in Lake
County. Our graduates run for political office, champion causes, mentor
youth, promote the arts and have been recognized and honored for their
business successes and community service. In 1996, Leadership Lake County
launched a Youth Program. This unique opportunity allowed high school
juniors a behind the scenes look at Lake County.
Leadership Lake County is
continuing to expand its programming with the development of the Junior
Leadership Academy. Sixth grade students meet one Saturday a month
over a five month period, learning about Lake County and developing their
leadership skills. The class will hold the first 32 students who
apply.
The Goals for Leadership Junior Leadership Academy include:
·
Students will
identify a career in which they are interested and set a goal related to
pursuing that career. (Increased performance in science if he or she
is interested in medicine, Increased school attendance, Improved performance
on the proficiency test in the area most related to the career, etc)
·
Students will
be able to form an action plan for achieving the identified goal.
·
Students and
parents will have an increased awareness of educational opportunities in the
area via guest speakers and on site visits
·
Students and
parents will be able to identify financial strategies for college planning
·
Students will
be able to develop skills necessary for any career development including but
not limited to : goal setting, problem solving, communication, working with
others, and organization
·
Students will
be able to evaluate the career that they are interested in through a job
shadowing experience
Each day takes place at
Lakeland Community College. Students from the east side of county can
ride Laketran from Lake Erie College. We will depart promptly at 8:00
am. Each day will end with a journaling reflection in which the
students will be asked to write about how what they learned applies to the
career that they are hoping to pursue. When students arrive at Lakeland they
will participate in a series of experiential activities built around the
day’s theme. The group also travels to a location to explore a career
in which the day’s skill is used. ( Half of the students will do the
activities first and then the on site visit, and half will do the visit
first and then the activities )
Each program day is led by
Dione DeMitro, Youth Program Director at Leadership Lake County. Rae
Grady, Education Coordinator at Crossroads assists in the facilitation of
each program day. In addition, Denise Tomazic of JC Penney travels
with the students. The students work in small groups led by high
school junior and seniors that have participated in the high school
Leadership Lake County youth program.
Each day starts at 8:30 am
and ends at 12:00. (Students riding Laketran will be picked up at 8
and return at 12:30)
January Theme: Goal
Setting
Students will identify the
career that they are most interested in learning about and will talk with
counselors from Lakeland Community College about what they can do now and in
the future to prepare for that career.
Students will then set a
goal related to that career. With the support of a professional
faciciliator, the students will develop an action plan to complete that
goal. Students will then travel.
February Theme: Problem
Solving
Students will participate in
hands on activities designed to develop problem solving skills. They
will then identify “problems” that may keep them from meeting their career
goal and brainstorm ways to solve that problem. Students will travel
to the Willoughby Hills Fire Station to see problem solving in action.
March Theme: Communication
The experiential learning
activities on this day will help students to identify and improve
communication skills. Students will have the opportunity to apply what
they have learned as they plan a community service project. Students
will create the plan for the project that they will implement in April.
Students will travel to the News Herald.
April Theme: Working
with others
Students will work on teams
to implement the service project they planned in March. Each team will
be supported by a member of the business community that volunteers in the
community. The travel location will be dictated by the service
project.
May Leadership In
Lake County
The final program day is a
full day of on site visits to locations that are not available to us on
Saturdays. The site visits are designed based on the interests of the
students. These can include, but are not limited to: the courthouse, a
local restaurant, a construction company, an animal rehabilitation center.
This day is planned with the career interests of the students in mind.
The day ends with a graduation “party” for the students and parents.
May Job Shadowing Experience
Students will be paired with
an adult in the career that the student is interested. They will spend
the morning shadowing. The student must participated in three of the
four Saturday mornings and the full day of travel in order to participate.
Summer Book Study-
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
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