By Tyler Dahlgren

There’s 43 students from seven different districts in ESU 4’s Student Leadership Academy this year. That’s 43 bundles of ingenuity, creativity and potential the academy’s organizers are eager to tap into.

Lori Broady, who recently retired from the service unit and began working part time for the Nebraska State Bar Association, launched the academy in 2021 with precisely these kinds of candidates in mind.

“Our premise was to take kids that were not natural leaders, not the student council presidents or the captains of the football team, that kind of thing,” said Broady, who’s still involved with the academy through her work with NSBA and the Project Citizen program. “Who we wanted were the kids that had shown some leadership potential, but just hadn’t been presented with the right opportunities. The Student Leadership Academy gave them that.”

The academy filled a void in that department, said ESU 4 Teaching and Learning Director Jen Madison. 

“When she (Lori) started this, she wasn’t really looking for the student council president or the usual suspect,” Madison said. “She was looking for the kid with some leadership capacity that hadn’t been realized yet for some reason. Maybe they weren’t the most outspoken or maybe they hadn’t quite figured out how to use those gifts with their peers yet.”

Last week the academy held its second of four day-long sessions on a breezy Tuesday in Auburn, where the energy and collaboration flowed through ESU 4’s spacious conference room. Erin Hamilton, Broady’s successor at the service unit, led the group through a full agenda of activities and exercises, all created to nudge the student’s just a bit outside of their comfort zones.

“My hope is that they tap into their individual leadership styles and their strengths and that they’re able to take that back to their districts and give back to their schools somehow,” said Hamilton, whose new role has her outside of a classroom for the first time in a long time. “I was in the classroom for 23 years. When I took this job and saw that ESU 4 ran a student leadership academy, I was really hoping that that was going to be in my job description. I was excited to be able to step in and get to work with the students and to carry on what Lori created.”

Students are selected for the academy by their respective school counselors, a tight knit group that collaborates throughout the year and meets in a smaller conference room while the academy is in session. It was those counselors who, along with Broady, recognized a need for something like this during a weekly Zoom session during the pandemic.

“I brought up this idea of building student leaders, and they jumped all over it,” Broady said. “They saw the need as well.”

In addition to skill-building activities that are predicated on teamwork and collaboration, students are placed in groups and build and develop a plan for a civil project that they present in front of a panel at the end of the year. While that’s a daunting task up front, by the end of the year they’re usually more than ready.

“As counselors, we are constantly pushing kids to do things that are hard for them, because in life, that is a skill they’re going to have to have,” said Auburn Public Schools counselor Amy Wynn. “We don’t hide from hard. We take it on and we get stronger. This is a wonderful opportunity for these kids to do things that they didn’t even know were possible.”

For an educator, there’s nothing more rewarding. When the belief starts to set in, the confidence is unlocked.

“What I really hope is for them to become more confident in their voice,” said Nebraska City Middle School counselor Katie Meredith, who pointed to the 6th, 7th and 8th-graders in particular. “Middle school can be hard. It’s a hard age, but I hope that the kids I bring here don’t feel like outsiders for being confident and sticking up for what’s right and for guiding their peers in the right direction, even though sometimes it can seem more cool to do things that aren’t really that great.”

Wynn and Meredith taught together in Nebraska City and the two even received their master's degrees together. They’re a perfect example of the type of network that’s being built here, and they hope the students they bring can build something similar for themselves.

“A huge part of this for them is meeting new people,” said Meredith. “So often kids are hidden behind technology. That’s put aside in here, and they’re able to meet kids they wouldn’t have otherwise. They make new relationships and friendships, and that’s important for them socially.”

Project Citizen is the engine behind the academy. Students work in mixed-district and mixed-age groups on their civic projects. They define a problem, and then research a solution. It’s an empowering process, and the team behind the academy lives for those moments when it all clicks.

“That’s the best part,” said Hamilton. “That instant gratification is what I kind of miss about teaching. I’m getting it with the new teachers that I get to work with, but the day-to-day moments where the lightbulb turns on for a kid, I miss that. So I really look forward to days like today.”

It’s more important to cultivate and encourage leadership in young people than ever before, said Madison.

“Our world is a really interesting place, and we’re going to need very strong leaders that come from this generation, both locally and on a much bigger stage,” she continued. “We wanted to provide an opportunity for students who might not have it come as easily, or who aren’t usually recognized for leadership. Watching them develop that voice and those leadership skills is so cool to see.”

This is the fifth year of ESU 4’s Student Leadership Academy. According to the feedback Meredith receives from her students at the end of the year, the first four academies were a smashing success.

“Every year the kids say it’s an awesome experience,” Meredith said. “They just really get so much out of it. I’ve been really pleased with it, and we’re going to keep coming back.”

The academy is a unique blend of student empowerment and team-building, while never relinquishing its ultimate goal.

“What I hope for them is to gain a voice,” said Wynn. “What I see in these students, kids that I chose personally, is an ability to be leaders. They care about things, and this gives them an opportunity to find their voice and to be part of a potential change.”

What started as a passion project for Broady a handful of years ago has evolved into one of Nebraska’s more uniquely-innovative scholastic ventures. It takes guts and a certain level of belief to even shoot for something like this, but the proof can be found in the pudding at the end of every year.

“From my perspective, I want them to have the confidence and the skills necessary to look at a problem and understand how you can address the issues surrounding that problem in order to fix it,” Broady said.

Energy flows through ESU 4’s conference room and into the nearby corridor as this year’s academy works its way through a mid-morning exercise. It sure sounds like they’re well on their way.