A local leadership program is helping high school students learn more about their community and how to become leaders. Leadership Stark County has been in existence for thirty seven years while its youth program is going on its seventh year. Stephanie Werren, Vice President of Development and Leadership Programs, has been involved with Leadership for seventeen years and has been VP for nine.
Mrs. Werren enjoys having the opportunity to work with “community minded people that want to see our area move forward.”
“Most of our individuals go on to lead different nonprofit boards or serve in committees in some capacity,” Werren said. “We also see a higher rate of those that continue to live in our community after our programs.”
Taylor Franks, sophomore at Alliance High School, loves that from Youth Leadership Academy (YLA), she has made so many friends from other sports than what she;s involved in.
Danika Wagner, sophomore at Minerva High School, believes that it’s cool to learn different things and be introduced to new aspects of Stark County.
“When we learned about and did the homeless experience, seeing people living in different ways and in poverty compared to us living in more not wealthy, but nourished environments [was new and different],” she said.
Hailey Holestine, sophomore at East Canton High School, enjoys the fact that “we got to meet people and that we continue to meet these more important people and just people that have changed Stark County.”
A sophomore at Perry High School, Leah Backus, loves that “we get to experience different things about our community and learn how to make an impact.”
Mrs. Werren states that the best aspect of leadership is “to have individuals think differently, learn new facts about where they live and use that knowledge they gained from new experiences or from the people they encountered to change the community.”
Teleyah Mann, Fairless High School sophomore, loves leadership because it gives her the feeling of having a purpose and having the ability to help other people.
“It’s so much fun to be able to interact with all sorts of different kinds of people,” Mann said.
Dajeun Dickerson Jr., McKinley sophomore, enjoys getting to see the people he has met from YLA at sporting events outside of leadership.
“I get to communicate with them and like just seeing them once or one time a month,” Dickerson said.
A GlenOak sophomore, Charlie Burton, states how she enjoys continuing to build relationships with the people she knows from the YLA program.
Alejandro Curet, a HHS junior, shares that he likes to see his YLA friends at Speech tournaments and other places around Stark County.
“I’ve built a network of friends,” Curet said.
Werren believes that the Youth Leadership Academy program has a bright future ahead of it and not only will it help the community, but will also help build new aspiring leaders.
“We are continually thinking of new ways to engage individuals in our community to be better leaders in their personal and professional lives,” Werren said.
