Written by Sam Pansa|

Students perception of leadership at Morgan is changing with the introduction of the new leadership program. Those who applied to be a Husky Leader had to answer four questions, write two essays, and get a letter of recommendation. Principal Keri Hagness said “One of the things I looked at was absences and grades, where it might not be the right fit right now because the commitment might not be enough because you have to budget in time. I want students to know that this isn’t exclusive, that whoever is interested in being involved can be involved.”

The lucky students that got into the program now have to go through training to prepare for the role of leadership at Morgan.  Recently the newly selected Husky Leaders took part in a day long leadership workshop.

Mrs. Hagness explained the leadership program, “The purpose of leadership training is to afford students opportunities to look inward in regards to what qualities and characteristics that they have in themselves, but to also look outwards as far as the purpose of leadership, which for me is about service, not a title or position.”

Mrs. Hagness also explained some of the focus of the first leadership workshop for the group. “A lot of the training rested on group dynamics like how a team works together.” Students began by discussing  “qualities that we think are important of a leader and the qualities that you aspire to have.”  Mrs. Hagness then explained how she, Literacy Coach James Messina, Library Media Specialist Shannon Robinson, PIC Prevention Coordinator Kelly Edwards and the Husky Leaders “created our own working agreement on what we expect of each other… so we spent a lot of time talking about how we want to treat each other and ways that we want to work.”

The Husky Leadership program is one of many opportunities available to students who wish to cultivate and expand their leadership skills.