Juniors Attend Leadership Seminar
On Thursday, five EPS juniors attended a Leadership conference in Neligh, NE, sponsored by the Youth Leadership Institute out of San Francisco, CA. Alongside students from nine other schools from the area, they learned what it takes to be an effective leader and how they can get involved in the decision-making process. Students were often broken into groups and completed activities that allowed them to exhibit and enhance their leadership skills. A focus of the day is that anyone can make a change, regardless of how small.
During the afternoon session, students were taught about the "Public Health Triangle." The triangle represents the three factors that must be changed in order to solve a problem: the individual, the environment, and the factor. By changing just one or two, the problem is not often solved. Even just by changing the individual, one person may be helped, but the problem still exists for others. The environment must be changed to cause an overall change!
Students were asked to brainstorm a problem that they see occurring in their school or community. The EPS students chose the lack of student participation and leadership in extra-curricular events. They labeled the branches with the problems that can be seen: losing activities, needing to co-op activities, individuals feeling burnt out, etc. They then labeled the roots as the causes as they saw it. Possibilities ranged from lack of interest and reduced school spirit, to lacking knowledge of the activities and personal choices. The last step was to brainstorm possible solutions for this problem, then evaluate these options.
The students have been challenged to not leave this work at Neligh, but rather to take it back to school and DO something about it. By working collaboratively with students and adults, the team hopes to change attitudes and make EPS an even better place to receive an education!
