Written by Lindsay Harden |

The Morgan Way consists of student based leadership roles within the school, something Principal Keri Hagness is very passionate about.  This year Mrs. Hagness with the help of some of her colleagues and friends has found a way to rejuvenate her love of being in the classroom with this passion for building student leaders in the new pilot program: Husky Leaders.

Her vision behind the program is “to help students learn more about leadership in the way in which they see themselves and to determine their strengths and the areas that they need to grow, and be more mindful of their daily actions towards others.”

But has this vision been executed this year? Mrs. Hagness said, “I feel that we have had time to do some of that. I wish I had more time to work with the Husky Leader program… there is just not enough time during X block.” She is however very proud of how much the students have taken a “liaison” role in keeping the school and community updated with everything going on in the school and taking a leadership role in events in the building.

Many students see this select group of 28 students as elite, but that is not the intent of the group at all. The group is a very inclusive group that aims to use their new found knowledge in leadership to make Morgan the best it can be. The Husky Leaders feel very strongly about this and about how this program has changed them thus far. Junior Wyatt Reu describes Husky Leaders as, “a transformational program that has greatly affected the way I see myself as a person and as a leader”.

Students in this program will earn a credit for their hard work. The course has a reading component entitled Strengths Based Leadership in which the student leaders learn about the different styles of leadership through the eyes of CEOs, motivational speakers, and all other types of leaders. The unique part of this book is that it provides the reader with a code to access an online test that will show their type five leadership styles. They can then read an assessment of these styles which will help them better understand themselves as a leader.

This book, however, is not the only requirement of the course. The credit mainly resides on a capstone project to be done by each Husky Leader before the end of the school year. On Wednesday, December 14, the Husky Leaders had the opportunity to start planning their projects and begin putting action behind their ideas.

Senior Julia Zirkelbach is working with Senior Lindsay Harden and Juniors Erin LeViness and Madison Seeger to organize a 5k color run in May in conjunction with Project Purple. Julia said, “Knowing that I work well with people, and being able to say ‘this is the goal we have. Let’s accomplish it’.  It gave me the courage to go outside my box, and fully use the leadership potential I have.” 

Senior Burton Caldwell is creating a butterfly garden and Juniors Wyatt Reu and Anes Gadun are launching a summer ultimate frisbee program through Clinton Park and Rec.Along with these projects the Husky Leaders have also spent a lot of time planning Swoosh for Change which took place March 24, 2017.

They also recently had another workshop on March 16, similar to the December 14 workshop. They listened to a key note speaker and then had time to work on their projects and report their progress out to the others. Applications to join next year will go out soon. If you have any questions, find one of the current Husky Leaders to learn about this great opportunity!