By ISABELLA ZACCARIA-JEFFERS – Variety Writer and
HENRY SCOTT – Sports Writer
Youth Leadership Athens is a program designed to develop leadership skills and promote a sense of community amongst a select group of juniors from Athens-Area high schools. Through games, community service and collective lessons, participants in YLA are able to connect with peers in ways that are otherwise unlikely.
While this may seem like an opportunity anyone would want to pounce on, most people have not even heard of the program. Of all juniors in and around Athens, there are only 37 representing four area high schools: Clarke Central High School, with the largest contingent, Cedar shoals High School, Athens Academy and Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School.
To be a part of Youth Leadership Athens, all we had to do was go through a simple yet thought-provoking application process. A small cost disproportionate to what this program has rewarded us so far.
There are about as many adults involved in the program as there are students and each and every one of them is committed to making the experience as fun and worthwhile as possible.
These adults include former YLA participants, such as former Bill Clinton White House staffer Allison McCullick and chef Peter Dale of the National, who are able to tell a bit about how growing up in Athens and participation in YLA has shaped their careers. They are joined by UGA staff, business people and other adults whose passion and enthusiasm is simply contagious.
The program has gained so much notoriety among adults in Athens that even local politicians have taken notice and made it a yearly tradition to host YLA at the state capitol in Atlanta.
On Feb. 5, our current class was fortunate enough to make this exciting trip. Leaving the CCHS parking lot at 7 a.m., we envisioned a long day ahead, but soon everyone awakened a bit and the exciting trip began. Going up the steps of the capitol building, and then proceeding through security was when we first began to realize the magnitude of our situation. We were in the midst of some of the most powerful people in the state.
We were about to observe real leadership in action.
Throughout the past few months we have explored leadership through many scopes but seeing it in the form of unpredictable cooperation when tangible things were on the line was possibly the most powerful exercise of all.
We were initially greeted by two representatives, one a Democrat from Atlanta, Spencer Frye, and one a Republican from the Athens-Oconee-Barrow area. While we were mostly accompanied by conservatives throughout the day, it was great to see actual bipartisan cooperation in action.
Just this one visit has proven to us that maybe politics aren’t as polarized as we may think. While from the outside it may seem like a dysfunctional sanctuary for bickering, in reality, it’s just real people with different perspectives trying to work together for similar goals.
Leaders come from many walks of life, and have different views and morals, yet they all manage to work together in a friendly and peaceful manner. They must have had to learn somewhere, how to cooperate with others that may not share their same perspectives. YLA is the perfect example of such a place.
YLA will not only prepare you for the future and the many difficult tasks and issues you must solve. But it will also provide you with the opportunity to expose and strengthen your leadership skills and your problem solving abilities, so that you are ready for whatever comes your way in life.
