Audio clip
Daniel Staub
Some of today’s youth are inevitably poised to be tomorrow’s leaders, but younger generations now have more temptations to pull them off track than their parents did, UTC wrestling coach Chris Bono said.
Mr. Bono spoke to a few dozen key Walker County students during the first youth leadership academy of the Walker County Chamber of Commerce last week.
The academy is an effort to keep teens on the path to accomplishment and was modeled after the Chamber’s leadership program for adults, said Chamber President Stacy Mauer. The goal was to identify future leaders and give them tools for success.
“The Chamber is all about work force development, and they are going to be in our work force in a few years,” Ms. Mauer said. “We want to make sure we have people in Walker County who can step up to the plate and take large community initiatives.”
Select teens from the county’s middle and high schools were chosen for the training about public service, finances and who their county’s leaders are.
County and city officials explained the workings of Walker’s government, and speakers such as Mr. Bono — who is currently working to make the U.S. Olympic wrestling team — spoke to students about their successes and failures.
“What I tried to tell them is, the whole thing is trying to be the best every second of your life,” Mr. Bono said. “I try to be the best father, the best husband, the best brother. Everything you do, you should do it the right way.”
the program’s pioneers
Brenda Noblitt, chairwoman of the Walker Chamber’s education committee, said this first academy was a jam-packed success.
She said students sometimes don’t distinguish between county and city government, so hearing from Walker County Coordinator David Ashburn and Chickamauga Mayor Ray Crowder helped them understand various leadership roles.
Gordon Lee High School junior Daniel Staub said it can help to learn outside the traditional classroom and lecture setting.
“This helps us become better stewards of the community,” he said. “It prepares us mentally for the future.”
Mr. Staub, an aspiring entrepreneur, said leadership academy lessons will stay with him as he prepares for college and a career.
Chamber volunteers and school system graduation coaches worked with the students throughout the day, and guided them through the last activity, which was a reality check. Students were assigned a job status and family information, and were required to balance a monthly budget, given those details.
Students said it was no easy task. Some had a family in which both parents were well paid professionals, and they had extra money at the end of the month. But others had to pick up part-time jobs to get by, and one group found they had no discretionary money for entertainment. Their family was allotted on $10 once a month to visit a national park.
Cassy Clendenen, 14, a freshman at Gordon Lee High School said it takes concentration to keep up with a budget.
“I have a lot of respect for my parents because they put things first with me and my brother,” she said. “They sacrifice things they want to do for us.”
generation evolution
The students and their mentors said there are differences between today’s youth and older generations.
Bert Bradford, Gordon Lee Middle School graduation coach, said students can be connected between different school via technology, such as Myspace.com and cell phones. The academy put the peer students face to face, though, and Mr. Bradford said he hopes the program will create lasting bonds.
“It would be neat if they do end up being leaders one day, that they will end up knowing each other since they were this age,” he said.
Ridgeland High School junior Josh Garcia said he thinks expectations for his generation are higher than for previous generations.
“Everybody is expected to go to college now and have a really good job,” he said. “Our parents could work at a job and rise up through the ranks, but today you have to have a degree.”
He said the academy’s lessons about hard work and success have him looking forward to meeting high expectations.
“It is definitely more challenging to be a leader than to be a follower, because you have to stand up and apply yourself a little bit more. But the challenge is definitely worth it,” Mr. Garcia said.
FAST FACT
* The Chamber plans to have two leadership academies a year, with the same students focusing on different topics.
Source: Stacy Mauer
