Clarkston High School’s Leadership Education And Development program, better known as LEAD, has been busy all summer planning for the new school year.
One of their biggest events, Homecoming, is coming fast.
This year’s theme is Dancing in the Moonlight, as voted by students at the high school.
With the Homecoming dance scheduled for Oct. 10, members of LEAD have to log 20 hours of required Homecoming Preparation hours, creating decorations to make the gym come to life for the dance, and also planning and organizing an entire spirit week leading up to the Homecoming football game on Oct. 9.
As always, spirit week will include a Powderpuff football game, Battle of the Bands, Pep Rally, and halftime show at the football game.
With a logistics team, including Jacqueline Proper, Katie Vondette, Cory Carone, and Taylor Weiss, guiding and overseeing the progress of the events and a strong group of leaders, teacher and mentor Aaron Dobson has no doubt this year’s Homecoming will be one of the best yet.
“LEAD has a great group of kids and I’m always proud of what they achieve each and every year,” Dobson said. “I think this year’s class will be a great continuation of the program and the traditions we’ve already established.”
For LEAD, it’s not just about helping the school. They also aim at instilling leadership and skills in students, assisting teachers and staff, and enhancing the community, he said.
“These kids sacrifice a lot of time and effort with the common goal of connecting the school and the community,” he said. “We really try and increase a sense of value for everyone.”
Before getting to work on Homecoming and other events, LEAD students spent time bonding and working on group building skills.
As is tradition, members went to Camp Tamarack for a day, where they worked on trust and communication on a high ropes course called the Tango Tower.
This year’s theme was “Back to Basics,? Dobson said, “a title given to humble everyone and really make them think about what leadership is truly about, why it’s important, and why they do what they do.”
Dobson and the students then went to the school for more bonding as they ate dinner, then parted ways as the kids went to a fellow classmate’s house for an overnight retreat.
Next, in order to connect more with sophomores in the program, juniors and seniors in LEAD II paired up with the students in LEAD I, a separate class teaching fundamentals of the program, and gave them a tour of the school. Projects for school and community also included welcoming new teachers and staff to the district. LEAD personally brought desserts and T-shirts to the administration building for all the teachers during orientation.
LEAD is also looking forward to continuing their elementary conference tour, which was launched last year.
Last year’s theme was Leadership Challenge: Destination Rainforest, in which LEAD went to all seven elementary schools in the district to teach the six skills of focus in leadership and the importance of being a leader.
Also on the agenda this year for LEAD is a charity week, which will include fine arts festival, dodge ball or volleyball tournament for staff and students, and a spring dance.
They also plan on teaming up with the environmental science class to improve the outdoor classroom at the high school and making it more enjoyable for students.
As they do every year, LEAD intends on participating in Relay 4 Life, planning Rent-a-Senior, and organizing a Blood Drive at the high school, which typically brings in a seventh of the blood for this region of southeastern Michigan, all donated by students.
New this year, LEAD aspires to write and create a LEAD handbook. It will be a resource of compiled information to help other schools develop something beyond the typical student council.
“We’ve found something that works really well for us and our program and we want to help other schools achieve the same success,” said Dobson.
Also new to LEAD this year is an entirely new academic aspect. This will be the first year LEAD students will receive a letter grade for their work and efforts in the classroom.
This idea was presented by last year’s juniors, now seniors, to Clarkston High School Principal Vince Licata, who approved the idea.
This will also be the first year LEAD will be in session as a course for all three trimesters, as opposed to only running for two of three trimesters last year.
“I’m really excited for this upcoming year,” Dobson said. “I think I have a great group of kids to work with that are going to put their best foot forward and I really appreciate what they do both inside and outside of the classroom.”