THINK BIGGER. ACT BOLDER. MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT. WHO WE ARE Since 2012, the Leadership Institute (LI) has challenged students to discover their purpose by identifying their talents, passions and values. Through a combination of coursework, professional workshops, mentoring and a culminating project, students realize their ability to make a lasting impact on their community. Guided by our tenets of Wisdom, Honor and Service, LI students partner with both public agencies as well as private sector entities to tackle real world issues. Students accepted into Leadership Institute during their freshman year commit to three years of leadership coursework, experiential activities and projects.
WHAT WE DO Leadership Institute Coursework is designed to: • identify talents and values to develop a personal vision • practice setting and achieving personal and group goals • experience facilitating team tasks Learning to Lead (sophomore
and develop them into strengths.
course): Learning to Lead is a one
Cohorts collaborate to execute a
trimester elective serving as the
whole-group Lead project using
introductory course for Leadership
design thinking to solve a real-world
Institute. Students concentrate on
problem. This allows students to
learning about and understanding
experience the Lead project process
themselves and others through
as a group prior to embarking on
personality analysis and intentional
their individual project journeys
introspection. They take the
during their junior year. In addition,
Strengthsfinders assessment and
students are assigned a professional
have one follow-up session to learn
mentor to help guide them
how to exploit their “top 5 talents”
throughout their time in LI. 4
Lead by Design (junior course):
thinking, empathetic interviews
Lead by Design is the junior year
and the guidance of their mentors,
course for Leadership Institute.
students prepare a comprehensive
Students continue to investigate
proposal for a long-term project
their personal values and learn about
that offers an impactful solution that
their Strengthsfinders talents during
can be implemented locally. From
multiple follow-up sessions and
conception to completion, students
ultimately articulate this through a
are tasked with executing their
personal manifesto. As the course
vision and measuring their impact.
progresses, students identify an
They present their project results to
issue they are passionate about and
the community at the end of their
perform both secondary and primary
senior year during the Leadership
research to focus in on a specific need Institute & Academy of Global Studies within their issue area. Using design
Exposition.
Ethics and Psychology of
our own behavior and the behaviors
Leadership (senior course): In this one of others, and to think about using trimester course, students investigate
these understandings to solve
psychological principles that have
problems faced by leaders. Topics
practical implications and applications covered include: self-control, labor for everyday leadership. The goal is to and motivation, persuasion, emotion develop an understanding of some of
and decision making, and ethics and
the underlying mechanisms governing morality.
WORKSHOPS Leadership Institute Workshops feature: • personality strength assessments • emotional intelligence training • problem-solving • conflict mediation skills 5
MENTORSHIP LI students are matched with a professional mentor from the extended Parish community to provide support and guidance as they plan and execute their Lead project. Our network of accomplished professional mentors includes entrepreneurs, physicians, lawyers, creatives and philanthropists. LI cohorts work closely with mentors to expand both their network and their skill set to enhance the impact of their projects.
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LEAD PROJECT A Lead project is born where the student’s passion and the community’s need intersect. The hallmark of a substantive Lead project is one that is based on the design thinking model and has a measurable impact. In Leadership Institute, we encourage students to challenge themselves to THINK BIGGER as they identify their project issue area and to ACT BOLDER as they execute their project so they are able to MAKE A LASTING IMPACT on the community.
WHY WE DO IT Leadership Institute has been designed to prepare its Upper School participants to make a positive impact by: • Building a deeper self-awareness of their talents and passions • Sharpening their skills for inspiring and enabling themselves and others to think bigger and act bolder • Identifying how they can use their talents, passions and leadership skills to achieve lasting results 7
Being in our LI cohort for three years has created a tight-knit network and has brought us close as we have supported each other with challenges and celebrated victories of implementing our Lead projects. -Polly Brown ‘24
Having a successful, professional mentor to help guide me through the twists and turns of working on a project in the real world has been so valuable! It has opened my mind to career opportunities I wasn’t aware of. -Laura Mangelsdorf ‘24 8