Browse > Home / Feature / Administration encourages younger students to lead in clubs, activities

Administration encourages younger students to lead in clubs, activities

April 3, 2008

By: Lily Zhao <lzhao@hilite.org>

Standing in front of members from her 2011 class, freshman Rithvi Melanta helps direct a meeting for ZOOM, a club that is directed only for freshman students who help organize charities, such as Relay for Life.
Melanta, also a freshman senator, is among many students here who is in a group of rising student leaders, a goal that the administration has had for some time.

“I absolutely love being a leader (and senator) because I can help guide others through Carmel High School,” Melanta said.

According to Administrative Assistant Amy Skeens-Benton, who has worked closely to help foster more student involvement, the administration has been pushing for more student leaders here to step up for a while now.

The main goal, Skeens-Benton said, was that by having extra student leaders, more events will get planned, thus students can be more involved in school.

She also said it would help bring about better behavior and grades. Furthermore, Sarah Wolff, assistant student government sponsor, said that by having the underclassman expose themselves to an infinite amount of leadership opportunities early, they might want to embark on a leadership role when they are upperclassman.

Wolff also said that in order to do well in a leadership position later, underclassman should get into anything. “It doesn’t matter what you join,” she said. “Just be objective and put yourself in a position to branch out later when you’re older.”

Through the examples of former Greyhounds Casey Crouse ’06 and Nathan Altman ’06, the need for more leadership doesn’t always have to be limited here. According to Wolff, Crouse, a sophomore at IU, became the youngest student ever to host Teach for America—a national organization that recruits and trains teachers to teach at inner-city schools for underprivileged students—at his college. Along with Teach for America, Wolff said that Crouse also helps recruit members for IU’s Dance Marathon.

Student Senate sponsor Michelle Foutz said that Altman started Tailgate for Life here four years ago because he wanted to create another event where the entire student body could come together and have a great time.

Because Altman’s event has been so successful, the community around the school knows about it and it’s still going strong. Due to the excellent leadership skills that were instilled in these two men here, that’s a main reason why the administration wanted current students to become leaders.

“(In order to lead) you have to be respected by your peers. You can’t be a good leader if you don’t have good relationships with the students you’re working with. If you can delegate responsibilities to others well, you can help the community in greater ways,” Foutz said.

Because Melanta’s older sister was a former Senate member, Melanta said she knows what it takes to become a better leader, for she said she was exposed to many events that her sister participated in, like Dance Marathon. She also said that because she naturally loves public speaking and meeting other students, these talents have also helped her in mastering her leadership role.

“Everyone’s a leader in their own way. By being a responsible and understanding person, I can make an impact on another student and teach them what’s right and wrong (if they need the help),” she said.

For being a leader like Melanta, Skeens-Benton said that the main requirements are charisma, commitment and responsibility. She also said that there are two types of leaders: born and learned leaders. Along with the community service that students can provide, they can mature their leadership skills within many clubs here that are pushing for more students to have the opportunities to become future leaders.

Some of these clubs include Senate, Greyhound Connections, the Diversity Club and House, among many others. Many of these organizations and clubs are headed by students who assume an authoritative role in directing club activities or members. Other important clubs, like ZOOM, are geared toward the underclassman, especially the freshmen.

“Every school wants more student leaders. Here, there are more opportunities,” Skeens-Benton said. “(By having the clubs, resources and leadership here) students can give back as much as they’re getting.”

Furthermore, because there are many more of these organizations that are geared toward molding or breaking out student leaders, the administration hopes that these future leaders will help benefit others around them.

Skeens-Benton said that by having these leaders influence others, students’ overall attitudes will brighten, grades will improve and the outlook for the school will appeal to prospective students. She also said that the administration would be willing to provide whatever it can to further students’ learning here in order for them to do the best that they can.

“Whatever one student’s needs are, we’ll find a way to provide it,” Skeens-Benton said. “We want all of our students to strive at whatever they do.”

Melanta said, “Being a leader is great, but helping others (and the community) is the greatest feeling of all,” she said, “and having a school that provides you with all these things is really great.”

Updated by ychoi · Filed Under Feature 

Comments

Got something to say?






November 2008
M T W T F S S
« Oct    
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930