How Lake Park nurtures Lancer leaders
Lake Park High School in Roselle takes great pride in developing teacher leadership, and equally important has been our district's commitment to developing student leadership through a variety of opportunities that seek input, encourage involvement and promote ownership.
Each school year, staff members are asked to nominate students to join the Lancers Lead program, which meets regularly to discuss student concerns and interests, schoolwide initiatives and leadership opportunities.
The campus-based organization, whose members serve in an advisory role to our principals, attracts a diverse cross-section of the student body who want to be more engaged in school. The participants genuinely demonstrate concern about the well-being of other students and improving our schools.
Survey results from Lancers Lead at the beginning of school identified final exams; college/career decisions; and homework among their top areas of interest to learn more about and discuss. Furthermore, Lancers Lead ranked stress/anxiety and mental health, as well as bullying, as "really important" topics to address.
This information has helped to drive the agenda each month and provides a focus for highlighting relevant and meaningful topics.
Another example of a district-grown leadership council is a group of juniors nominated by athletic coaches and activities sponsors. The team focuses on leadership skills, the student voice, action planning and implementation. Self-named the LanceFormers, this group of motivated students has actively identified key issues and delivered successful results in Year 1 of its founding.
The LanceFormers are credited for identifying a need for schoolwide service projects, which led to establishing Make a Difference Day when more than 400 students donated a half day of community service on a chilly Saturday this fall.
Projects included cleaning up in Busse Woods and the Army Trail Nature Center, volunteering at a local 5K, and making care packages for cancer patients. LanceFormers also identified a need for peer and academic tutoring at our sender schools. The result has been impactful with the coordination of upperclassmen who now tutor at both F.E. Peacock Middle School in Itasca and St. Walter School in Roselle.
On a more national level, Lake Park has sponsored students for the past three summers to participate in the J. Kyle Braid experiential program preceding a student's junior year. The opportunity is dedicated to developing, nurturing and strengthening students through a series of leadership training sessions and team activities that can be leveraged for the remainder of their high school years and beyond.
The JKB leadership program attendees participated in 30 hours of classroom learning and created a mission statement that reflects how they would like to make Lake Park a better place. The outcome has been a tremendous circle of "paying it forward" as our students designed and executed a Future Lancer Conference, which extended their leadership training to eighth-grade student-athletes from the sender schools.
Stemming from the inaugural JKB retreat was the creation of Lancer Nation that helped to boost a culture of enthusiasm, school spirit, pride, respect and tradition at Lake Park. These attributes truly characterize our students and the leaders they are becoming.
• Lynne Panega is superintendent of Lake Park High School District 108. During the school year, her column runs monthly in Neighbor.