This Fall the UCCP had the wonderful opportunity to work with the Philadelphia School District by providing a series of trainings for citywide student government representatives and the adult sponsors who help support student governments in their respective high schools. On September 3, one week before the beginning of the new school year, 48 passionate and committed high school students from across the city attended an all day training at Temple University on various aspects of leadership. Addressing topics such as the qualities, roles, and responsibilities of a leader, and issue identification, mobilization of support and development and execution of action oriented campaigns, these students demonstrated once again how high young people will reach when given the appropriate supports and opportunities. As a special incentive, Dr. Ackerman addressed the students and encouraged them to become advocates for educational improvement, promising $50,000 for them to launch an anti-truancy campaign. They have since developed the campaign – watch for it on local media!
The UCCP also had the opportunity to work with close to 50 adult sponsors from public schools across Philadelphia. During three training workshops in October, we engaged in ice breakers, small group activities, role playing and large group discussions, to collectively explore topics of democracy in schools, democracy in student governments, types and degrees of participation, attributes of youth leaders, importance of youth leadership, role of Adult Sponsors, supports needed, challenges, and effective youth adult partnerships. UCCP staff took the knowledge generated from these highly spirited activities and created a Living Document of Best Practices in Student Leadership for the School District.
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