An overview of the newest program to develop leadership potential in high school students.

1. What is the Emerging Leaders Program?
Emerging Leaders is a program to develop and utilize the leadership potential of students within the school to accomplish
great things in the classroom and community.
What level of commitment is required of members of the ELP?
Regular meetings will take place 1-2 times per month, but ongoing participation in activities, projects and role modeling
in classrooms on a regular basis will also be components. Student leaders will meet with a mentor staff member to discuss
classroom progress, learn leadership skills, and plan for upcoming goals. Feedback from students to the mentor teacher
will allow for meaningful adjustments to classroom happenings, while feedback from the mentor teacher to the students
will allow them to interact with course content at a different level than is possible in the regular classroom setting. The
teaching and learning process will be at the forefront of the service that the ELP provides, and in addition to this will be
community development among the school population.
What's involved in the program for members?
Emerging Leaders will take part in structured activities to further develop their leadership skills and then deploy those
skills out in classrooms and the community. For example, one aspect of leadership is communication. ELP students will
take part in activities that help develop their communication skills to a leadership level. Then, they will utilize those
communication skills in classrooms to model ideal verbal and non-verbal interactions to others. Emerging Leaders will
also be able to utilize their communication skill in public speaking opportunities and other inspirational experiences.
Program development and action plan
The program will be developed by students and staff together using the Design Thinking process of prototyping, testing,
refining, re-prototyping, and testing until the program is completely developed. To begin, the program will be deployed in
the classroom setting, but eventually will be expanded to the school and community setting. Elements of the individual
classroom in which the program is initially deployed will be discussed in preview to students who take part in the
program. This will be done in an effort to equip them to be student learning facilitators among their peers. With skills to
navigate the elements of the individual class, the students in the Emerging Leaders Program will model correct learning
processes and techniques for their peers and, in conjunction with the classroom teacher, will help to facilitate the learning
in the classroom. Eventually this program will give rise to leadership opportunities outside of the classroom but still
within the school community. Service projects and action research projects will put students in the ELP at the forefront of
making a difference in the school and community to design creative solutions that address relevant issues. Ultimately, the
program would pair upperclassmen leaders with underclassmen in a mentoring capacity and various ways to build the next
generation of leaders and yield a self-sustaining program.
What do members get out of being in the program?
Members will be a part of designing and developing a new organization at the high school level that is centered on
leadership. Unique opportunities for personal and academic development will be afforded to members. Each member will
receive community service hours that can be applied toward required hours or college applications; furthermore, a strong
letter of personal recommendation from the club advisor will be provided to each member for use with post-secondary
program (e.g., college) applications.
Motivations for the program
Born out of an action research project from the graduate college of education at Saginaw Valley State University, the
Emerging Leaders Program is being developed and piloted for use in the high school setting. Research suggests that
students learn best when the educational environment is student-centered; however, many traditional learning
environments still exist. Students who are used to learning environments that are not very student-centered sometimes
take more time to adjust to research based methods for instruction and developing community culture. In an effort to
facilitate the teaching and learning that take place in student-centered classrooms, and to support students in being well
rounded and successful in their school community, the Emerging Leaders Program is a designed solution that will address
the needs of the classroom, school, and community to provide a service learning experience that develops leadership.
Similarly to the way that high schools have department leaders for each subject discipline, who work closely with
administrators to then support their department members, the Emerging Leaders Program will take on a similar structure
and function at the student level. With inspiration from similar programs at the college level, the Emerging Leaders
Program will be a first of its kind at the high school level. Additionally, the Emerging Leaders Program seeks to support
the cohesiveness of the school community and student body through connecting student leaders in meaningful ways with
peers in a variety of settings to address a wide range of needs at the school.