Twenty-two sophomore students from all corners of Richland County gathered at the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center last week to “graduate” from the Young Leaders Institute program.
For the past seven months from September to April, two high school sophomores from every public high school in Richland County, as well as the two largest parochial schools Mansfield Christian and Mansfield St. Peter’s, gathered once a month to experience diverse community opportunities, resources, issues and institutions throughout the county. Bill Sharp, Director of the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation as well as the Young Leaders Institute program, said the institute started in 1982 as a way of “breaking provincialism” in Richland County.
“Two educators in Richland County got together and said it would be a good idea if we had students in all the public schools that knew each other,” explained Sharp. “If there were a problem or an opportunity for shared service, there would be people that had spent time with other people from a different school district.”
The most important goal of the Young Leaders Institute is to form friendships, but Sharp added the students are also given opportunities to learn about economics, government, healthcare, and career exploration.
“They begin with some team building because they don’t know each other; they’re from different schools,” said Sharp. “This year they did a community service project working on a Habitat for Humanity house, they did some healthcare exploration that involved dissection of cow’s eyes and icky things, they’ve done some criminal justice work, and we have a program on entrepreneurship.”
Students of the Young Leaders Institute spoke of honing both their leadership and their communication skills throughout the seven-month program.
“We improved on our leadership abilities by talking with different kinds of people and meeting new people,” said Trevor Schoenman from Lexington High School.
“We learned how to communicate with each other better and talk to other people and find connections,” added Claire Thrasher from Mansfield St. Peter’s.
Their communication skills were put to the test Tuesday when students in groups of three or four presented checks on behalf of United Way of Richland County in front of a crowd of their peers, parents and administrators. In February, the students toured five local non-profit agencies and accepted mini-grant applications for eight different programs, then served as the allocations committee of United Way to decide how to distribute the grant funds.
“Today, we are allocating funds to the charities we had the opportunity to visit,” explained Nick Hergatt from Crestview High School.
A total of about $13,000 was presented to charities such as the Raemelton Therapeutic Equestrian Center, The Rehab Center, and Harmony House in Mansfield, to name a few. Visiting the charitable organizations and presenting the funds drove home a deeper message for some students.
“We learned that Mansfield is bigger than we thought it was and there’s a lot of organizations that make it up,” said Brady Rice of Mansfield St. Peter’s. “We got a taste of how many people love this city and are willing to do anything to make it better.”
Though the luncheon was the last get-together for the students in this year’s program, Sharp noted this is not the end of their involvement with Young Leaders Institute – particularly the friendships made along the way.
“I always feel like we’ve been successful when as they leave today, they’ll be signing each other’s yearbooks and saying let’s get together next week or next month, those friendships continue,” he said.
“I probably would have never met any of these kids without this program,” said Jennifer Thoman of Lexington High School. “I think I’ve made a lot of friends.”
“We learned that Mansfield is bigger than we thought it was and there’s a lot of organizations that make it up,” said Brady Rice of Mansfield St. Peter’s. “We got a taste of how many people love this city and are willing to do anything to make it better.”
