The first Leaders UNITE conference has been rescheduled for Thursday, April 2nd 2015 from 10:00am-3:00pm. The schedule is attached in the flyer. We welcome schools and students from any group, so contact us if you are interested in attending. We anticipate a lot of students, and we are excited for the event. There will be three discussions, followed by three corresponding activities. We will also discuss Leaders UNITE and wrap up with how to bring back these concepts to our own schools. Hope to see you all there!
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Leaders UNITE Conference- February 27th
We are proud to announce that our first Leaders UNITE conference will be held on Friday February 27th from 9:30am-3:00pm. It will be in the Cary Academy lecture hall and will include schools with and without Leaders UNITE branches. The meeting will consist of three discussions, three activities from the website, and a few shorter tasks. The focus will be on what it means to be a leader, good vs. bad leadership from an external perspective, and how classroom setting helps and/or hinders leadership development. We will also work on a model of the perfect school environment for leadership development.
Please comment or contact me if you are interested in attending as an administrator or student! Lunch and transportation will be provided.
Happy New Year!
On behalf of Leaders UNITE, we would like to wish everyone a happy holiday season. As 2014 comes to a close, we just wanted to share some words of inspiration for the upcoming year.
What’s New in December?
Hi everyone! After the huge success on the YAS project, we have lots more to come in December and January! Here’s some things to look forward to:
- YAS (You are Special) project round 2 starting from December 20th-December 26th.
- Look at previous posts to learn more about the YAS project!
- New Year goal setting/planning workshop.
- Spend a fun day with other members of Leaders UNITE while planning goals for the 2015 year. We will also discuss changes in education systems (including changes that make leadership more engaging), how to become a more prominent leader in a school environment, and do a few of the Leaders UNITE activities.
- Dates are still being confirmed, but they will be posted soon!
- Me Too project.
- This project will be announced fully in January of 2015. For now, it is worth saying that the project helps people realize that they are not alone in regards to discrimination, social pressures, etc.
We are very excited for all of the upcoming projects! We hope you all will get involved and bringing positivity to our community!
YAS- a Success!
Our Thanksgiving YAS project was a success! We had at least seven people share the YAS status, and over 90 YAS posts within the few days the project was active. Good job to everyone who posted a YAS status! We will do another round of YAS near the last week of December.
For everyone who missed it, YAS (You are Special) was a Leaders UNITE social media movement where people posted status on Facebook and posted on Instagram. Whenever someone ‘liked” the respective post, they would get a personalized message on their wall saying why they are special and important. People could “share” the status and post it as their own to continue the cycle to another group of people. On Thanksgiving day, Ivana and Julia posted multiple YAS messages on people’s walls randomly- whether they knew about the tradition or not! It was a great way to spread the holiday cheer!
YAS (You are Special)
In honor of Thanksgiving week, Leaders UNITE is launching our first YAS week. YAS stands for “You are Special.” This project is similar to Compliment Cards, but it is an online version. Ivana and Julia are posting facebook statuses about YAS. If you like the status, they will post a nice message on your facebook wall. They will do this if you like their status, but they will also be posting randomly on people’s walls. The message will start off, “YAS because…” Hopefully, once you receive the message, you will post your own status about YAS. We hope this really kicks off, and that this will be the first of many YAS opportunities.
How to Start Leaders UNITE at Your School
Steps to starting the club:
1. Get a teacher or faculty sponsor to help with the club.
2. Look at the page “2014-2015 Schedule” and read it down each column for a list of activities and discussions.
- If you have a limited amount of club time, you can pick any activities and discussion prompts as long as you
- Use all of the activities in bold font
- Pick a few activities/discussion prompts from each of the 5 categories (UNITE)
3. Send an email to leadersuniteclub@gmail.com so you can be on the email list for club-wide volunteer opportunities and conferences!
4. Create a wordpress account (instructions on “FAQs” page) to connect with other schools and comment on discussion posts.
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A Typical Leaders UNITE Club Meeting:
A Leaders UNITE club meeting could be run in any of the following ways:
Activities and Discussion
- Starting with a short discussion prompt and spring-boarding into a similar activity (you could also end with a follow-up discussion
Long discussion
- You could do one huge discussion for the whole club time (you can start with a given prompt, but feel free to venture into other, connected topics of discussion
Volunteer Opportunity
- You could work on a volunteer project during club time (see some ideas under the “Community Activities” page)
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Notes:
- This club does not involve any fees, so no need to worry about paying!
- You will need some paper and pencils, so be sure to keep these handy. Contact leadersuniteclub@gmail.com if you need any assistance in purchasing these items.
- This club can be done during school time, but if you school does not have club time, feel free to do this club before school or during after school hours.
- All of the activities and discussions on the schedule are written in ” ” because they correspond to the names of posts under the “Activities” and “Discussion Questions” pages on the website!
- Feel free to comment on any of the discussion posts, and start a discussion between you and other members of the club!
FAQs
Q: How can I start Leaders UNITE at my school?
A. It’s very easy! Just talk to a teacher or counselor at your school and see what time of day you can do this club. Some schools have club time, so try to start this club during that time. If your school doesn’t have club time, try to start this club before or after school. Or even in a homeroom period. Ask you teacher to see what time works best. Find a faculty member who is willing to facilitate club time, and then you’ll be set! The 2014-2015 schedule is on the website, but feel free to add or eliminate activities based on the amount of club time you have. If you want to incorporate the club in another way feel free to email leadersuniteclub@gmail.com for suggestions. Even if everything is clear with the schedule, we still recommend that you email Leaders UNITE so that you can get updates about events in the area.
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Q. How do I receive information and/or attend state-wide Leaders UNITE events?
A. To receive information about club-wide conferences, volunteer events, and guest speakers, email leadersuniteclub@gmail.com to be added to the email list. If you are starting the club at your school, I recommend doing this, so you can receive information easily.
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Q. How do I respond to the discussion posts on the Leaders UNITE website?
A. We strongly recommend each branch of the club to share their insights on discussion questions in the form of a comment on the discussion post. In order to comment on the post, you must create a WordPress account (www.wordpress.com). Once you are logged in, you can go to the Leaders UNITE website and click “comment” under the specific post. We hope this section allows schools to gain different perspectives on major issues regarding leadership.
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Q. Where is the 2014-2015 schedule and how do I use it?
A. The schedule is posted under the tab “2014-2015 Schedule.” The schedule will open in PowerPoint and goes vertically. For example, you start with all of the activities, discussion questions, etc. that are vertically under “Understanding.” Once your group has completed those, then you move on to “Nourishing,” etc. The activities and discussion prompts are all in quotation marks and therefore correspond to species posts under the “Activities” and “Discussion Questions” pages. If your club has limited time and needs to cut activities and discussion questions, feel free to do so. However, the activities/discussions in bold font are the ones that your club should not cut from the schedule.
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Q. Is there an age requirement for students in the club?
A. No, students of any age group can start this club at their school. However, under the activity section, there are different tabs for elementary, middle, and high schools, so it is important to use the different tabs when doing activities for the club. We believe that you are never too young to learn how to be a leader, so we believe that students of any age can participate in this club.
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Q. Currently, how many branches of Leaders UNITE are there?
A. There are 15 branches of the club in North Carolina that we know of. However, we have been in contact with 6 other schools in the state, 2 county-wide Teen Councils, 1 school in Maryland, a school in Argentina, and a school in Singapore. There are other branches that we have heard of, but they have not provided contact information to Leaders UNITE, so we are unsure of further information. We hope to continue spreading this club to other schools!
Leaders UNITE 