High School Leadership Camp Complete!

We did it! As you all know, leadership training is central to our vision for working in Kosovo, and the summer leadership camps traditionally are the pinnacle of the Leadership Center's calendar.

Last week fellow staff members, volunteers from the US, and a small team of students who completed the program led the 2009 program for High School students. It was hugely gratifying experience and it felt that we were as effective as we could have been in transferring the principles and passion for servant leadership. The students were visibly inspired by the new ideas, facts and skills! We're now working to enable and mentor them as they implement a style of leadership that contradicts the self-serving style of leadership that is pervasive here.

Preparation for the first camp involved a host of details -- lots of "to do" lists. Our colleague, Jo, oversaw most of the logistics and helped us pull off a variety of activities each day that all tied into one another and might have even looked effortless to the student participants. : ) Her experience and stability behind the scenes critical to the successful training!

Landon's role: I was dedicated to delivering presentations at the daily group sessions (Mon-Thur, no session during the half-day on Fri). The work on those sessions began several months ago with reading through various resources and notes on leadership that I've accumulated. Drawing upon observations and a survey of the students, we chose the themes: 1) What is Servant Leadership? 2) Leadership is a Lifestyle, Not a Position, 3) Leaders Practice Integrity and Transparency, and 4) Leaders Enable Others to Act. It was a fantastic feeling to present messages that were burning inside me and to feel that I'd done so effectively! With Lacey's help, I developed a lot of audio/visual elements to make the themes gripping and memorable.

I also provided the four team leaders with activities and journal questions to help them lead the students in taking ownership of the ideas in small groups. And for the final day, we planned a circuit of games/simulations called "The Big Game" for the teams to practice the themes under the stress of a competition.

Lacey's role: My job was to lead five students, the Green Team, in two or three team times each day. We began each morning with a fun team-building activity, followed by discussions and activities to introduce the daily leadership theme. Later after Landon's session, we would further discuss the themes, journal, and run other activities to help us re-teach the themes to whatever extent the students still needed. It was a thrill to personally engage with the students, challenging them and inspiring them to pursue a higher standard than most others in their community. Throughout the week we also developed a written plan for a service project in the city that the students could accomplish within 2 mos. and with a budget of 200 Euros. I had the pleasure of working during the whole week with a "Jr. Trainer" who was selected from among the program graduates and a translator who is currently in college.

Below are some pictures from the camp (click to enlarge).

We're spending this week regrouping because we will run the exact same camp next week for university students. We look forward to seeing what different group dynamics come with with this older participants who have already entered the adult world.

THANK YOU to all of those who are contributing to make our presence here possible! You should definitely share the feeling of accomplishment and excitement for the future of leadership in Kosovo. Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions, or just to say "hi"!

L&L