The Missing Someone

Leadership Tomorrow alumnae collaborate on teaching class at Barr

What does a Slinky have in common with leadership?Should students be able to chew gum in school?Those were some of the questions that Barr Middle School students struggled with Monday morning during a leadership class taught by Barr alumnae Sara Robbins, Courtney Cahoy, Audie Aguilar and Samantha Mitchell.Specific answers to those questions were not as important as getting the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students to think about what it takes to be a leader.Shanie Bockmann, executive of Leadership Tomorrow and Youth Leadership Tomorrow, also was on hand to lend help when needed in the class, which lasted about two and a half hours.In addition to being Barr alumnae, Robbins, Cahoy, Aguilar and Mitchell are all graduates of the Youth Leadership Tomorrow program.Bockmann said high school students take the Youth Leadership Tomorrow class as sophomores, which gives them all of their junior and senior years in high school to demonstrate some of the leadership skills they have learned.Bockmann said Barr students who participated in Monday’s program were all selected by Barr staff members.One purpose of the class is to have students show leadership during their middle school years, but an equally important goal is to get students to think about applying to be in the program as high school sophomores.One thing Barr students quickly learned is that being a leader does not mean bossing other people around.Instead, Barr students were told to think in terms of being a “servant leader.”That two-word phrase has several implications for leadership, including letting go of ego, building a community and working with others, giving power away, and keeping their eyes on a higher goal.Near the end of Monday’s class, some Barr students admitted they did not know what “giving power away” means when it comes to leadership.The high school students explained that it means not trying to do everything yourself. It means giving power — and responsibility — to others to accomplish a goal.For example, each of the four high school students were responsible for a different part of Monday’s class. As the class progressed from one activity to another, one girl had to pass power or leadership to another girl.One of the activities involved giving students different objects and asking them to come up with examples of how that object demonstrates an aspect of leadership.The Slinky, for example, showed that sometimes people have to stretch themselves to be leaders. Another object showed that people sometimes have to be flexible when they assume a leadership position.Students also learned about the concept of diversity.The Barr and high school students stood in a circle, listening as different statements were read. If that statement applied to them, they stepped forward. If it didn’t, they stayed standing in the same spot.Kids stepped forward or remained in the same place as statements such as “Step forward if you have a pet,” “Step forward if you play an instrument,” and “Step forward if you think your parents sometimes put too much pressure on you” were read.A different group of kids stepped in to almost every question.The exercise showed they were a diverse group — the same students did not step forward to every statement. It was a little different mix almost every time, so they all had differences.At the same time, nobody stayed rooted in the same spot as all the statements were read. Thus, they all had shared some similarities.Most students thought middle school students should be allowed to chew gum during school. They gathered in a group around the high school student who held up an “Agree” sign.But a small minority thought chewing gum during classes should be banned. They gathered around the student holding the “Disagree” sign.If students were undecided, they stood in the middle.One student in the “disagree” group said chewing gum would distract the student who was doing the chewing from learning during class. He also said allowing gum chewing would result in bad situations such as gum being stuck under desks.Another student, though, argued that if gum chewing was legal, students would not be tempted to stick the gum under a desk or chair because they would not have to hide the act from teachers.Once all such arguments were made, students were allowed to stay standing in the same agree, undecided or disagree groups, or they could change sides.At the end of the ex …

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