La Porte County High School Students Attend Leadership Program

Leadership La Porte County recently completed its annual high school leadership program for students in La Porte County. Each high school in La Porte County was asked to nominate 5 students for participation in the program. Participating high schools included: La Porte, Marquette Catholic, Michigan City, New Prairie, South Central, Tri-Township and Westville. The program was funded by a community grant from the Unity Foundation of La Porte County.

Four all-day sessions were held during four consecutive weeks at various locations throughout La Porte County. The program was facilitated by Leadership La Porte County’s Executive Director, Monica Komasinski, with support from many community guest speakers. Student leaders assisting with this year’s program were Norah Gartland (LaPorte), Natalie Herbert (Westville), Dylan Grieger (South Central), Audrey Henning and Olivia Ruiz (New Prairie), and Michael Smelser (Indiana Connections Career Academy).

The students participated in activities to enhance their leadership skills such as communication, problem solving, team building, collaboration, and decision-making. They completed a community service project with handmade greeting cards. The cards were delivered to a local nursing home and a packet was mailed for distribution to military personnel.

At the opening session they did a personality assessment to better understand group dynamics and individual personality traits. A session was held at the La Porte County Complex with a tour of the county jail, speakers from the La Porte County Sheriff Department, and a Q &A session with jail inmates. The final two sessions were held at Red Mill County Park and Cummings Lodge in Soldiers Memorial Park. Tom Dermody, Mayor of La Porte was a featured guest at the second session, sharing a message of the value of hard work and staying true to your goals. At the final session a panel of young professionals discussed their leadership journey and gave inspiring advice to the students.  Justin Kiel, Jessica Bruder, Erik Nelson, and Dan Hogan were featured panelists. The final session concluded with a special guest speaker, JB Glossinger. Glossinger is a La Porte County native who is an established author, podcaster (Morning Coach.com) and motivational speaker on the national circuit.

Each participant received a certificate of completion and a commemorative tee shirt.  The students set goals at the end of the session to complete within the next year and were encouraged to use the information learned to go out and make a difference. Student leaders selected to assist with next year’s program: Brayden Sobecki (LaPorte), Lewis Seitz (Westville), Emily Newburn (South Central), Logan Thibodeau (New Prairie), Caitlin Mason (Michigan City) and Alexa Reyes (Marquette).

For more information about Leadership La Porte County or its youth programs, contact Executive Director, Monica Komasinski at 219-325-8223 or by email at info@leadershiplaportecounty.com.