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Developing leaders for Mississippi
July 10, 2007
OXFORD, Miss. - For the Trent Lott Leadership Institute's summer kids, homework is fun and speaking in public is becoming an exciting activity.
With some steadfast ambitious efforts and an exuberant amount of dedication these students could possibly become tomorrow's leaders.
Forty of the best ninth graders from Mississippi will spend a month on the Ole Miss campus to learn about what it takes to become good leaders.
The "Lott Leadership Institute for Rising Ninth-Graders" program will wrap up on July 28 sending the up and coming young leaders back home motivated to lead the way in the hallways of their schools across the state.
"We want to create more leaders for Mississippi," said Jason Wilkins, Director of Summer Programming.
The first step for the future leaders is to learn about politics.
Therefore, the students take a four-hour class on problems of American democracy every day.
"It's been amazing. The class is kind of hard, but it's challenging," said Davis Rogers from Jackson.
Rogers also shared that in school he really did not understand the subject, but said that the teachers here made it easier. "So, I learned a lot about the government," he said.
The students' schedule is pretty tight and strict.
Until 3:30 p.m. they are involved in full time classes.
A few recreational activities follow the academic schedule so that the students can clear their brains for the homework and projects they have to work on.
"There hasn't been one thing that I haven't liked," said student Grace Bozeman.
"I was so surprised. Even the homework is kinda fun," Bozeman continued.
She also jokingly commented about how it is kind of funny that she actually likes the homework.
Bozeman is from Hazlehurst and is the president of the Junior Beta club at Copiah Academy.
According to Wilkins, most of the students are leaders at their schools.
Leadership and academic excellence were two of the criteria that needed to be met in order to qualify as one of the top 40 out of the 150 students who applied, Wilkins said.
The ninth graders also get to experience their first speech class at Ole Miss.
"I know that for being a leader you need to be able to speak and a lot of us had trouble," Bozeman said. She also admits that she has improved since taking the class.
"You can use it later on. It helps so much," Bozeman added.
The cost of the program is $500 and in order to be accepted in the program, students had to raise half of this sum by themselves, Wilkins said.
Some of the students got their money from their parents, and some worked for it.
One student who worked to help raise the money was Patricia Chastain from Carriere who had four mini-jobs this summer.
She raised her first 50 dollars by washing brushes at a pottery place. Then she washed hair color bowls at a hair salon, worked as a baby-sitter and pulled out weeds from her grandparents garden.
"I raised $280 myself. I did it on my free time when I wasn't visiting my friends," Chastain said.
"Most of them feel completely vested in the program because they worked so hard to get there," Wilkins said.
The difficulty of being accepted into the program was not just limited to the aspiring young leaders- it was also a difficult feat for the counselors.
Price Henley, a junior English major, had to pass a hard contest and a very tedious screening to get one of the 16 positions available in the counseling group.
Henley, a leader himself, is responsible for the students when they are outside the classroom. He joins them in all their outdoor activities and walks with them on campus to the Turner Center.
"Every kid in this program has great leadership skills," said Henley.
"They are some of the best children I've known."
However, the life as a counselor is not always blissful.
"For the most part, the kids are OK as long as you are serious with them," Henley said.
He admits that his responsibility can get frustrating at times.
"I'm trying to make them study, do their homework, go to bed on time, get up in the morning. It can be tough," Henley said.
According to him, being a counselor for ninth graders is hard as taking care of your younger brother. Henley also lives in Miller Hall with the Lott students.
"This group is known historically as being a good group of kids. There might be some trash here and there, but they have not vandalized anything," said David Baskett, assistant director of student housing and resident life special programs.
The students get quite a few perks in the Ole Miss summer program.
Wilkins said the students will hear Mindy Maxwell from Sen. Thad Cochran's office speak in one of their classes. They will also take trips to Jackson, Memphis and Parchman Penitentiary.
The highlight of the program is working as Habitat for Humanity volunteer.
"I wanted to build a house but I never had the opportunity. Coming here and knowing that we're gonna do that, I got so excited, I was so ready," Bozeman said.
"It's one thing to talk about leadership and is another to roll up your sleeves and demonstrate that you can follow and you can work as a team," Wilkins said about the pillars of the program.
by Domnica Negru
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