Youth Leadership and Life Skills Project in Burleson County

Teaching leadership skills to youth is important as they prepare to govern the future. Appropriate skill development among young people will lead to the ability to guide or direct others on a course of action, influence opinion and behavior, and excel among peers. To address leadership and life skills, Burleson CEAs Amy Ressler and Dusty Tittle implemented the "On the LOT" Program.

The Youth Leadership and Life skills project, commonly referred to as "On the LOT", indicating that our future depends on the Leaders Of Tomorrow, utilized resources to affect leadership development in youth including the "Putting the Pieces Together" curriculum and, the book/workbook from "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens" by Sean Covey. Community leaders served as guest speakers for sessions. Funding was secured for the program through a grant and used to purchase individual copies of the book and an accompanying workbook for each participant.

Twenty youth were accepted into the program and participated in an 8-month course, featuring 7 sessions and a celebration event. Participants were recognized with plaques. A celebration event included a catered dinner sponsored by a local bank. Feedback comments about leadership concepts learned included “Being creative and expressing my ideas, this has taught me to be open about my thoughts” and “The win-win concept will help me lead my 4-H club as president”. Parents also provided feedback including comments such as: “This is a superior program and will benefit all that are involved in it”, “I liked that the speakers were motivating and from a variety of places. So many of these kids hear ‘us’ (parents, teachers, club managers) saying these things, but many times, others can make a bigger impression.”

Due to the positive response, the program will be repeated in 2009 with fine tuning included. The agents will widen the diversity of the participants and include youth not currently enrolled in 4-H.

The type of program has application in all counties in District 9. Give it a try and you will like the results!