Ten Attend Maine Youth Leadership Day

Ten students from GSA joined hundreds of aspiring leaders from schools across the state for Maine Youth Leadership Day at the Hyde School in Bath in early November.

The conference, said Levko Fedorak ’24 of Kyiv, Ukraine, “was an opportunity to talk with people your age who want to change something for the better in their schools.”

Mya Schildroth ’25 of Blue Hill added, “It was a way of engaging with leaders from other schools and different school cultures.”

Shawn Gorman, executive chairman of the board of L.L. Bean, opened the event with an address about what it takes to lead with empathy, persistence, and determination. Hearing about one person’s experience as a leader and all that entails “was really cool,” Levko said.

Afterwards, students attended group workshops. In her favorite workshop, Mya learned an important lesson. “When you think of the word ‘leader,’ you think of the president, the CEO of a company, or someone high up, but an everyday person can be a leader.”

When Levko attended a workshop in which students talked about problems in their schools, such as being on their phones all the time, misbehavior in bathrooms, and substance abuse, he realized that regardless of geography, “the problems are the same” as what he experienced “when I was in Poland and when I was in Ukraine.”

As for her future as a leader, Mya said with a chuckle, “I really like being the boss of everyone.” But the day taught her that good leadership isn’t about being the boss. Good leadership is about listening, including people with different sets of skills when facing a problem, and not telling people what to do but encouraging them to do the right thing, she said.

Regarding his future as a leader, Levko said, “I hope to do something connected with leadership. But I have zero clue what I will do further in my life. I would really like to, but sadly it doesn’t depend only on my will and from what I am doing. It also depends on what is happening in the world.”

When asked if they had anything to add, Mya and Levko said they were impressed when Maddie Damon agreed to represent GSA on stage even though they think it can be difficult to speak in front of a large group. The sophomore from Blue Hill joined other school representatives to answer a question about leadership. Her question: Who inspires you to be a leader? Maddie’s reply: her parents.

Thank you, Athletic Director Billie L’Heureux, for taking our aspiring leaders to the event, and thanks to the Hyde School for hosting.

From left, Amelia Jackson ’25, Reed Pambianco ’25, Fred Coit ’25, Aubrey King ’25, Ansel Tenney ’25, Mya Schildroth ’25, Maddie Damon ’25, Patrick Dagan ’24, Kaiya Loukes ’25, and Levko Fedorak ’24 at Maine Youth Leadership Day at the Hyde School in Bath.

Thanks for the photo, Billie L'Heureux.