On behalf of Leaders UNITE, we would like to give a warm welcome to our newest branch of Leaders UNITE- Enloe High School. We look forward to working with your school on various aspects of leadership. Also, we hope to be collaborating with Enloe on a conference in the very near future. Stay tuned for more updates.
The 2015-2016 Schedule Is Here!!
Here is the Leaders UNITE schedule for the 2015-2016 school year. We are doing things a little bit differently this year, but we believe that this schedule will more accurately portray the goals of the club as well as be more practical for a diverse amount of schools with different club times, resources, etc. If you have any questions regarding the schedule, feel free to email or contact leadersuniteclub@gmail.com . We are excited for the upcoming school year and cannot wait to see what you all will accomplish!
Leaders UNITE Goals for 2015-2016 School Year
Hi everyone! Here is a list of some of the Leaders UNITE goals for the upcoming school year. We hope everyone will become involved with the many opportunities present and that we can help spread positivity and leadership throughout the larger community.
- Create YAS Facebook pages for all groups involved so that people can post YAS statuses to others within the community.
- Implement Compliment Card boxes in more of the schools involved with the club.
- Have more students create their own volunteer projects to post on the website and organize.
- Host a conference with some of the local schools involved with this club.
- Continue expanding Leaders UNITE to other schools.
We will announce projects and news events throughout the year, so stay up to date on everything through the website. Check the News page for the most recent updates, and we hope to see you all involved in the upcoming school year!
Meet Miriam
I would like to introduce everyone to Miriam W. (pictured left.) Since Ivana is now in college, Miriam will take over the Cary Academy branch of the club. I would like to thank Miriam for all of the work she has already put into the club, and I look forward to collaborating with her more in the future. Stay tuned for some of Miriam’s ideas and contributions to Leaders UNITE!
YAS (You Are Special) for schools on Facebook!
YAS is taking on Facebook in a new way! Each interested school is getting own YAS Facebook page! People can send in YAS notes anonymously or with their name on the virtual note. Then, the administrator of the page (either me or someone from your school who is interested) will post the virtual note on the Facebook page. The page will be filled with YAS messages! Feel free to comment on YAS messages or just take pleasure in the kind words of your peers.
For more information, commment or email leadersuniteclub@gmail.com. If you would like to be an administrator on your school’s YAS page, let me know in the comment/email.
YAS (You are Special) Book!
Leaders UNITE is taking on its newest YAS (You are Special) project- a book! This is not a book written by one author, but this will be written by all of you! The focus of the book is on you and the YAS shoutouts you give to your friends, family, peers, lovers, or whomever deserves to know that they are special. All you need to do is fill out a simple form with the required information. And sure, readers won’t know everyone in the book, but the point is that everyone can relate to the underlying messages in these messages- everyone has people in their lives that deserve to be recognized and praised. So please, fill out the form below and have your message show up in our first book! This book can only happen with all of your shoutouts! Make someone’s day and write them a message!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19xOPVgeOuladbSr0O8lypc2Uh44v1nVzP48NOGGA3GY/viewform
1A
This was a model group. The students fully understood the concept of teamwork. In order to fulfill the requirements that all students should speak, some students split their sentences in half. Others added witty side-comments to lighten the mood. One group did a remarkable job of creating a summary that would appear on the App Store. All of the groups were very organized, finished within the time limit, and understood the concepts of organization, compromise, and teamwork.
The students said that usually in the classroom, they did not have designated leaders, but they instead used a lot of teamwork and compromise. Therefore, they were very accustomed to working on activities together. They also paid attention to one another and asked creative and valid questions to one another. This group was fun to work with and although they did not touch on aspects of leadership very much during their presentation, the students all understood the concept of teamwork and compromise. This group was very fun to work with, and I am excited to see what these young and intelligent students will do with leadership in the future.
1B
This group was very energetic, I must say. I could tell that all of them loved the project, but at the same time, they also kept talking during one another’s presentations. They had so much energy and did not know how to control it. The students had very creative ideas; however, similar to some of the previous groups, it became apparent that there was a lack of compromise amongst some of the groups with regards to the app. One group selected an outfit-chooser. This was a common app created by girls’ groups, but in some of the groups that contained girls and boys, it became apparent that the boys only agreed to do the app because they believed a compromise could not be formed. Although it seemed like the activity had been unbeneficial for these students, when I asked how they created their creative presentation, all of the students were able to point out what they wrote for the presentation. The group ended their presentation with a witty remark about how their app would be available in the app store within a few days.
Although the app idea would never be approved by teachers, some students came up with a creative app to help students cheat on homework assignments. Aside from the fact that they thought about everything- even if the teacher walks by while the student is using the app- I won’t say anything more about that specific app.
One group took a very creative route to the project which involved a great deal of teamwork, compromise, and subtle leadership. The group listed all of the apps that they liked, and then they called me over. They asked me whether they were allowed to combine real apps that they liked into one mega-app that had new and unique features. Although the purpose of the activity was for the groups to create their own apps, I allowed the group to do so because it was a new and creative idea. In order to access different features of their app, prospective users had to beat a game, etc. which meant that their app incorporated multiple skills into one app. It was very creative, and the logo was a combination of all of the apps’ logos. To make the app even more unique, they changed names such as Instagram and Snapchat into Instantgram and Snapdog. It was extremely well-planned!
This group’s discussion was very similar to that of the other groups. Aside from group that combined all of the different applications, every other group maintained a normal compromise, subtle leadership relationship.
5S
This group really got the idea of a presentation. The students made the presentations extremely enjoyable. One group started with rhetorical question regarding the purpose of the app. Another group mentioned a “review” of sorts that highlighted why their app was more effective than other apps of similar function. Within these two groups, they said that they all came up with the ideas together. They were ideal groups- they each stated many ideas and then eventually decided on one idea that encompassed all of their ideas into one. Then they each came up with their own witty ideas for the presentation. They finished within the time limit as well.
While two of the groups were ideal, one group remained problematic. In a group of three girls where one wanted to do next to nothing regarding leadership, the students could not agree on a single idea. They did not want to think and they did not want to compromise or come to any sort of consensus. When time was up, they suggested an app that one of the previous groups had mentioned. Even though they had another suggestion that was more creative, the students did not want to do the activity one bit. Although I still got across the point of leadership and teamwork with the majority of the class, there was nothing I could say to the group of girls that would make them care.
Yes, the students learned lessons about leadership during this class period, but I believe that I learned the most important lesson during this class period. I learned as long as someone listens, everything is okay. At first, I was upset that the girls were not interested in my project. It seemed like everyone else so far had at least enjoyed the project. However, these girls did not even pretend to enjoy the project. I was offended and felt like the students did not respect me. But at the same time, the two other groups loved the project and executed it perfectly. They listened, acted, and understood. They gleaned valuable information through this project that they can use during their school on a daily basis. When reflecting on this, I realized that it is most important to get my message across regardless of the amount of people listening. As long as at least someone gains knowledge from my teachings, then I have accomplished something. This is an important mentality to have with regards to leadership as well. As a leader, not everyone is going to agree with everything you say. Not everyone is going to appreciate you taking charge. However, it is important to help the group achieve a common goal, and it is equally important to know that as long as you act in a respectable manner and share your teachings, at least someone will listen.
2B
The students seemed very excited to do the project. They were all cheering when I said that they were going to create their own app. They asked if they can pick their groups after I said the groups would be by columns. I explained to them that the point of the project was to be in groups that didn’t exactly fit their friend group, interests, etc. Most groups finished within the 20 minutes, but some of the 5 groups had one or two things to complete after time was up. This was the first time that all of the groups had different ideas for their project and none of the ideas really overlapped among the groups. My favorite idea from the group was a mind reader that could tap into someone’s emotions when you hold the phone up to them.
I am not sure whether it is due to the age or maybe the closeness of the grade, but even though I separated the groups in ways that didn’t accommodate for close friend groups, all of the students managed to come up with ideas that everyone in the group enjoyed. It was great, but it also made the amount of discussion a bit less prominent. At least, that was what I thought until I asked the groups which person made the logo (or if everyone made it together) and in each group, only one person made the logo. I touched on the fact that since one person technically made the logo, that was some sort of leadership in and of itself. One person took charge to create a logo. That has some form of leadership within the group and definitely deserves some recognition. One girl answered the question perfectly, everyone acted as leaders for their own part of the project. She completely got the idea of how leadership fit into the project, and it was almost like she was echoing the words I had so many times spoken to other groups.
In this class, the students were less interested in asking one another questions about the other groups’ apps. However, the groups put a lot of effort into their apps and the creativity behind each of the apps. Overall, the students understood the idea of teamwork relatively well.
Leaders UNITE 