High school students to develop skills at Friday leadership event

Riley Funk, St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
·2 min read
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Sep. 30—A group of student leaders from around the area will have the opportunity to develop their skills at the inaugural High School Leadership Experience on Friday.

The event will take place on the campus of Missouri Western State University and will host students from Benton, Lafayette and Osborn high schools.

Nathan Scott, Missouri Western student government association president, said one of the goals of the event was to focus on students in the community and region.

"We want to make sure that we reach out to our community and look at the young leaders," Scott said. "We invited members of the local student councils from different organizations, from different high schools, and brought them in."

Scott said the role of the SGA at the event is to involve peer leaders and make it student-driven. The hope is to help students sharpen skills that will not only be useful in high school but also transfer to their college careers.

"We're trying to teach them everything from advocating for their peers to just learning how to market their events, how to plan events, get people involved ... all those different skills that you need to be a leader," Scott said.

College students will coach their younger cohorts and show them what leadership roles look like on a college campus.

Lauren Bloodgood, SGA vice president, will be helping coach Lafayette students by giving them tips and tricks of being a leader and showing them how to translate those tips back to their school.

"We'll be walking them through the day, making sure they get where they want to go, teaching them about leadership ... kind of their mentor at this event," Bloodgood said.

Scott said he hopes to give advice about things he wishes he knew before going to college.

"The most important thing that you can do is get to know different people from all walks of life and just kind of learn how to connect with people," he said. "You can build a network that allows you to really just be able to know everyone and utilize everyone else's skills to help you out in your journey."

The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. with check-in and will conclude with school presentations on how the students will bring what they learn into their schools.

Riley Funk can be reached at riley.funk@newspressnow.com.