Youth Leadership Prince William Class Graduates at Youth for Tomorrow

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Leadership Prince William graduated 28 students from its newly established Youth Leadership Prince William summer program last Friday. Hosted on the campus of Youth For Tomorrow in Bristow, the two week leadership program included students from public schools in Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park as well as private schools. What is the Youth Leadership Program?  Based on the success of Leadership Prince William’s adult program, the summer youth program provided skill development activities and mentoring from Leadership Prince William alumni and community partners. In addition to working on their individual skills and abilities, students completed a variety of team projects and learned about key aspects of their community. Topics included education, health, local history, human services, economic development, public safety, tourism, government, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and more. "We tried to have a program that reflected the community," said Executive Director Kathy Bentz, by including students from different parts of the county, different schools and students with diverse backgrounds. The idea was not just to accept students who were already leaders of their schools, but to help more students grow into leadership positions.
[/caption] What Makes a Leader? Like the adult graduates of the Prince William Leadership Program, Bentz said the the campers enjoyed discovering their personality profiles through Emergenetics. Discovering whether they were a "red," "yellow," "blue" or "green"  helped them to understand how they work and how they work with others. Bentz said that despite the personality differences, "absolutely" everyone has the potential for leadership, though their leadership styles will differ from one another. How did Leadership Prince William Impact the Campers?  During their commencement ceremony, students showcased what they learned through the program and how they will use it moving forward. “Leadership Prince William has been a great impact on me,” said student graduate Josh Kaniho of Osbourn High School. “This program has taught me how to listen more and correctly apply the leadership skills I have acquired in the program. Leadership Prince William has taken me to places that I did not even know existed. It has also helped me to realize my personality traits and what I need to work on to improve myself." Students also demonstrated the extent to which they took leadership seriously, not only for themselves, but also for the people they may one day lead. Keynote speaker Kamil Jenkins, of Bull Run Middle School, shared her definition of leadership with the audience. “Leadership is when someone asks the opinions of others, but does not just go along with the crowd,” she said.
Jacqueline Mitchell, of Lake Ridge Middle School, noted all the fun she had meeting new friends through the program. “We laughed so hard people began to cry,” she said. Mitchell said she hopes to start her own business one day, and even become President of the United States. Dr. Gary Jones, CEO of Youth for Tomorrow, said he was “very proud we had the opportunity to partner with Leadership Prince William.” He told the children that when he was young, he watched both the Republican and Democratic national conventions and hoped to work in national politics. “My dream came true,” he said. “Your life is what you make of it. Have a dream. Create goals.” Who Made the Program Possible? This year’s inaugural class was made possible by the support of Micron Technology, Youth For Tomorrow, the City of Manassas, Comcast, ImageWerks, and Kohl’s of Haymarket and Manassas, Okra’s Cajun Creole and dozens of adult alumni from Leadership Prince William. Micron provided initial funding for the youth program, while Youth For Tomorrow provided funding as well as facilities for use by Youth Leadership Prince William during the two week camp. "We literally could not have hosted the program without these two key community partners,” said Program Manager Glenn Vickers. How to Become Involved with Leadership Prince William? Readers can learn more about Leadership Prince William’s youth and adult programs by calling 571-765-7568 or emailing info@LeadershipPrinceWilliam.org. Co-written by Kathy Bentz of Leadership Prince William & Stacy Shaw of Bristow Beat. Bristow Beat offers a special thanks to photographer Kathy Strauss, of ImageWerks, who posed many of photographs used in this article.

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