29°
NEW CANAAN, Conn. Jim Foley and his colleagues at St. Lukes School think leaders can come from people other than the sharpest dressed or those with the loudest voice.
St. Lukes students can now tap into their potential at the schools new Center For Leadership. Open since July, the center helps students set goals and work on public speaking and shows them how to reach their leadership goals in different endeavors.
The idea for the center was hatched about two years ago as a way for the St. Lukes to serve its teaching mission in a different way, said Foley, the centers director. Foley said school staff wanted to help shape students beyond preparing them academically for college.
The point for us is we think we can get kids to see the leadership potential in themselves [beyond] the predetermined, cookie-cutter image of leadership, Foley said. You can be a leader in different ways.
Foley, who started at St. Lukes as a math teacher 12 years ago, said the Center For Leadership will help youngsters who arent necessarily trying to become CEOs or chiefs of industry.
They can effect change in ways that matter to them, Foley said. They dont have to be passive recipients. They dont have to say, Im not one of these types of people and I cant do X, Y and Z, he said. In seeing the things they do well and the habits they can acquire, they can be effective in any area where theyre interested.
Next June, students from the leadership center will take part in a service learning trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, where St. Lukes will partner with students from Rangitoto College in New Zealand.
Its an extra unit in the school. Weve got the people and the time to help them, he said.
To contact reporter Melvin Mason, email mmason@thedailynewcanaan.com.
Click here to follow Daily Voice New Canaan and receive free news updates.
