How Texarkana’s Student Leadership Program Is Shaping Future Leaders
By Dr. Jenny Walker, Leadership Texarkana Executive Director
Today’s Youth Tomorrow’s Leaders is a program for high school students that helps develop a strong pipeline of residents engaging in community leadership. The program, which is part of the Leadership Texarkana lineup of programming, supports students from all four of the Texarkana public high schools as well as students from the homeschool community.
This Texarkana student leadership program is giving high school students real-world experience, community connections, and a clearer path toward future leadership.
As part of the program, students have the opportunity to learn about the Texarkana community and its leaders, build and engage with a network of other peer leaders, and sharpen their own personal knowledge and skills about leadership. For parents, programs like this can offer a meaningful way for teens to grow in confidence while preparing for future opportunities.
How Students Explore and Engage With Texarkana
In the spring, students participated in a scavenger hunt downtown where they were able to learn about some of the great coffee shops, restaurants, historical sites, and arts opportunities available for their entertainment. Leadership Texarkana Executive Director Jenny Walker said that was a very strategic activity to help young people get a feel for activities open to them that they may not otherwise experience.
“We often hear young people say things like ‘there’s nothing to do in Texarkana,’” Walker said. “We wanted to show them that that’s simply not true. There are so many exciting things happening here, but we need to find ways to help those small local businesses get more exposure, especially among this generation.”
In addition to helping build an awareness about entertainment options, students also had an opportunity to meet with several great leaders in our community.
Learning From Local Leaders and Mentors
Throughout the year, they heard from motivational speakers Chase Livingston and Laking Harris, who shared with them about the importance of perseverance and working to meet goals. They also met business and community leaders – Donnie Reid, Cody Peek, and Kristina Rivas – who use their positions to give back to the community. They also had an opportunity to hear from Texarkana mayors Bob Bruggeman (Texas side) and Allen Brown (Arkansas side), as well as Chiquita Burks and Jean Matlock, who shared about opportunities available through city government.
Building Leadership Skills That Last Beyond High School
Students also learned how they could use their leadership skills to impact others. Retired principal Shirley Wright joined us to share about how she uses her leadership skills to serve children around the world as she makes jump ropes for them out of old t-shirts. Ms. Wright demonstrated how to make the jump ropes, and students spent time making their own to donate to her cause.
Students were not just exposed to the wisdom of community leaders, but they were also challenged to learn about themselves and their own leadership and personality styles. They took personality tests and found out about themselves, and they engaged in activities to help demonstrate how they can leverage their unique strengths and weaknesses in school and in future careers. For families, this kind of self-awareness can be a valuable step as students begin thinking about college, careers, and life beyond high school.
The Student Leadership Symposium and Final Projects
They finished the year with an activity that pulled from information they learned over the course of the program into a culminating project that challenged them to consider their personal mission, vision, values, and most influential leaders in their lives. This activity was the basis for a project they presented as part of the organization’s first Student Leadership Symposium, where they shared things they learned in TYTL with family, friends, school administrators, and community leaders who attended to show support. The Student Leadership Symposium was held in conjunction with the program’s graduation ceremony, where students received certificates of completion and cords they could wear at graduation.
For parents interested in opportunities like this for their students, you can learn more about programs through Leadership Texarkana and how to get involved.
