December 2012

A cutting-edge leadership program helps young people susceptible to at-risk behavior realize their potential by focusing on their strengths and providing support from a volunteer coach.

In the Lead is a strength-based leadership program available to select students who attend one of the four Discovering Choices Outreach Program Schools in Calgary.

“We believe what you focus on, you strengthen,” said Jennifer Barroll, program director for In the Lead. “We take this philosophy into business and we take it into this vulnerable population of young people who are constantly measured against everybody else in society.”

According to the Calgary Board of Education website, “Outreach Programs are community-based high schools for young people who due to particular personal and/or family situations experience obstacles in their educational pursuits.”

The program came into existence September of 2011 and is currently in its pilot phase after a joint venture between Cenovus Energy and the Calgary Youth Justice Society.

The third semester is underway with about 18 to 20 students enrolled in the program. Students mostly between age 17 and 20 are nominated into the program because they have shown elements of leadership, dedication and commitment to the bigger picture in their life, said Barroll.

One of the motto’s of the program is “no leader left behind,” said Barroll.

According to the In the Lead website, “Not all young people with strong leadership abilities are easy to spot. Many young people, who face challenges and obstacles growing up, develop characteristics that can be the foundation of great leadership, but too often, they are overlooked in favour of peers who are displaying their potential in more conventional and obvious ways.”

After entering the program, each student is paired with a volunteer employee from Cenovus who is trained by In the Lead.  The volunteers spend one-on-one unstructured time with the student they have been paired with.

Volunteers are not coming in with answers, said Barroll.  “They are coming in to share in a journey.”

CarlyAnna Bray,18, a student at Discovering Choices School, was 17 when she was nominated for the program. She said she was initially hesitant to enter the program, but decided to sign up in order to obtain additional credits she needed.

“The course was introduced to me at a difficult time in my life and turned out to be a blessing in disguise,” said Bray.

She said the program opened her eyes to what she could do to make her life better, and it helped her to realize what her teacher describes as her “spark and ingredients for life.”

During the program students worked on a project called 21 Days of Happiness. As part of the project, they handed out happy face balloons with hand written quotes to people on Stephen Avenue in downtown Calgary.

Bray ended up enjoying the course so much that she asked to participate the following semester.

“Being a leader in school can change everything in life,” said Bray.

The nature of Bray’s leadership and the success she had in the program elevated the learning for other students in the course during the second semester, said Barroll.

Bray now recruits other students and is considered a mentor to her peers.  She said her experience has taught her to have compassion for herself and others and it has made her feel better about who she is and what she can do.

In the Lead two was created because of Bray’s success and influence on the other students. It offers the opportunity for two students from each school to apply to come back the next semester as a mentor to their peers.

In an effort to effectively measure the results of the program, In the Lead has engaged a group called Resiliency Initiatives to provide a questionnaire, given to students before and after the program, which helps gauge personal development in specific areas.

Some areas of personal development include the young person’s relationship with their family and community. Results can be measured by the level of connection they feel and their responsibility towards maintaining and sustaining these relationships.