Cultivating our Future Leaders

By Robin Sauerwein

How do youth develop as leaders? Are there naturally born leaders or are they shaped by their experiences?

Kathryn Sharpe, program manager, Urban 4-H Youth Development speaks from a 4-H model for building leadership in young people.

4H focuses on experiential learning model  – learning by doing. Youth develop their ‘head, heart, hands and health’ by participating in activities that interest them. In 4-H, every club is different because it reflects its members’ interest.

First youth must develop a sense of self. Youth learn by taking control in their life, to be powerful. They need to get comfortable with their identity. They identify their own strengths and challenges and then ask themselves what they want to do. It is a combination of discovering self with pursuing a meaningful way of engaging in the world. 4-H provides opportunities for young people to do what they love and also to have a meaningful impact on the world.

A leader is not something abstract. Sharpe said that everyone has a capacity to take on leadership. It boils down to skills. Anyone can facilitate a group.

“There are many different kinds of leaders,” she said. Some may be naturally charismatic while others may be good problem solvers. It is important to foster and affirm all those different types of leadership.

A leader is not always the person in the spotlight. A leader brings out the best in other people.

“That is important for all of us to learn,” she said adding, “We definitely have a spotlight culture.”  Sharpe said kids often feel they won’t get any attention unless they get straight A’s or become the class president.

“We need to find places where kids shine and validate that,” she said. If you are a good friend, for instance where do we validate that?

She said old cultures have known that. They must be collective to survive. In other cultures, it is not as much about speaking a lot as it is about role modeling. You need good support systems for cultures to endure.

Sharpe agreed that there is definitely some baggage associated with leadership. Some think it is all about power, politics, or dominating the spotlight, but she said, “Good people take action when something needs to be done and sometimes it’s done really quietly.”

Youth Who Lead

Last summer a group of 25 youth from around the Twin Cities went to Washington, DC on full scholarships from the New York Life Foundation to attend a 4H conference.

While there, the group encountered a collective experience of discrimination by other youth. It had a galvanizing effect on them and generated a deep desire to address the issue when they came back.

Since returning the group has formed their own 4H club with a mission of educating others on discrimination.

Mike Harries was one of the youth who went on the trip. Harries, a high school senior, was an active leader in 4H before the trip serving as an ambassador and working on various community service projects in his community.

With help from the rest of the members, Harries wrote a skit on racism and discrimination. The club has already performed it at one Urban 4-H retreat with plans to take it out into the elementary and middle schools.

“It’s a work in progress,” he said. The club wants to target young people’s attitudes early and to help shape behaviors before they get set later in life.

Harries defines leadership as, “the ability to not be afraid of doing various things. If you have a reason to do something, don’t be afraid,” he said.

After returning from the trip, he discovered something tangible about leadership. He recognized that he could solve problems and could actually do something about his experience.

“The trip showed me that there is so much I can do to help. It never really appeared to me before. It opened up opportunities,” he said. “I’m not afraid of taking initiative.”

17 year old, Laurel Wiehe was also on that trip. She said the incident brought the group even closer together.

Beside this skit, Wiehe said the group has been telling their story to friends and classmates. She even wrote a paper for school.

“We hope to reduce the ignorance of people’s lifestyles and culture. In this time period that we live, there shouldn’t be this type of discrimination and hatred. It shouldn’t exist. We tell our peers in our small section of the world. To make it a better place,” she said.

Shaping Leaders

Wilderness Inquiry, a nonprofit organization that promotes social integration and inclusion through wilderness adventures works with youth in their Adventure Leadership Program (ALP). Youth, ages 13-18 gain wilderness skills and receive leadership training through multi-day trips and activities.

Three youth who are participating in the program shared their experiences and how it has shaped them to become leaders in life.

Claire Dzierzak, a junior at South High School has been involved with the program for two years. Ziggy Norberg, 15 was attracted to Wilderness Inquiry because it involves both those with disabilities and those without. Norberg said it is unusual to find a program that incorporates both. PJ Wehrwein joined two seasons ago and also enjoys how the leadership program integrates working with everyone’s abilities.

Dzierzak knew she had some leadership qualities before joining the program. She was the kind of kid who was eager to get things done and to take initiative. But the program soon taught her that everyone has something to contribute.

“It was important for me to learn that my contribution is valued but I am not the only one that’s there to achieve a goal,” she said.

The program is divided into three different years. The first year, youth learn basic outdoor skills: how to cook a meal, pitch a tent, etc. In the second year, they work on disability awareness. This is to integrate a very diverse community to work together. The third year the program works on trip logistics like planning the route and choosing the gear and supplies.

Dzierzak said, “When you come into a situation you have to understand who you are leading. You can’t just think everyone is going to be able to do what you do. You have to learn to adapt to other people and have others adapt to you and be able to work together.”

In the program, youth are given certain obstacles to overcome.

“I remember I had to put up a tent blindfolded, Dzierzak said.  “That was kind of intense but with the rest of the group there, tasks were delegated. It was easier to help and be welcomed in the group.”

The activity raises more sensitivity and awareness of what people with disabilities go through.

Wehrwein said the program provides for a sense of confidence that he hasn’t felt anywhere else. He recalled a physically demanding trip last summer. While in Montana he took a hike up about 1000 feet from the shore of the Missouri River.

“I was kind of nervous. The trails were narrow and we were walking on ridges. My crutches weren’t working properly and that posed some individual challenges. I got to the top and there was this awesome view. Just being up there was this awesome sense of accomplishment,” he said.

 Norberg recalled the time he was leader of the day with another kid. His job was to read the map which had always been a challenge for him. “The staff believes in you so much,” he said.  “They wouldn’t allow you to give up. I can do this. It may take a little longer but I know how to do this.”

At Wilderness Inquiry and other community events, youth have opportunities to apply their skills and to step outside their comfort zone. This confidence occurs very gradually.

Wehrwein said since being in the program, people have noticed in him an increased confidence.

“That feeling of confidence I gained came from successfully navigating a new and different environment.”

Everything learned in the leadership program can be easily adapted to real life.  Dzierzak remembered one trip where she got tonsillitis on the trail.

“It’s the sacrifice you make to do what you love and just kind of keep working at it even though there are obstacles in your way and instead of trying to avoid them, you have the positive attitude to take them head on. This is not going to stop me. I am going to enjoy overcoming it and I am going to learn something from it.”

“Every experience you have as an adolescent forms who you are and how you view yourself,” she said. “I learned not only about how other people interact with one another but how much I interact with the world that I live in, both the people who live in it with me but also nature itself,” she said.

Wehrwein added, “the mission of social integration really in any situation is a wiliness to meet new people and just be open and outgoing to someone you don’t know and taking the risk to get to know them. I think that’s a valuable leadership skill. Presenting yourself to someone else saying, this is what I can and cannot do. There it is.”

For others wanting to develop their leadership skills, Dzierzak said, “Have the confidence in yourself to take that risk. That confidence can be adapted to so many other things. The leadership just kind of comes when you’re willing to take those risks.”

Norberg agreed, “Let yourself go. Put yourself out there don’t be afraid.” This is who I am whether you like it or not, I am not going to change.”

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