For Tanya Calderon, a rising junior at Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, attending the InnovateU summer program at the University of Georgia this past June gave her a chance to think differently about her community and learn more about the award-winning public university in her backyard.
“I really loved getting to know other people and sharing our perspectives,” Calderon said. “The program also helped me learn more about studying business and finance at UGA and got me thinking about attending school here.”
Calderon was one of 24 Athens-Clarke County high school students to attend InnovateU, a summer program at the UGA Innovation District that is sponsored by the UGA Office of the President. InnovateU is coordinated by the UGA J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development and College of Family and Consumer Sciences in partnership with the Clarke County School District.
At InnovateU, students develop as leaders and problem solvers by innovating answers to real-life challenges through learning leadership and human-centered design skills.
This year’s challenge asked the students to work with college and industry mentors to identify sustainable ways to increase civic engagement in Athens-Clarke County.
Ideas ranged from organizing regular events to building apps for volunteering to creating a day-long competition where students would volunteer and earn points for their respective school.
“Getting involved in the community can seem hard, but we want to get more involved,” Calderon said. “Through this program, we learned that we could help others get involved too.”
UGA Fanning Institute public service faculty members Lori Tiller and Jason Edwards worked with students on leadership skills such as effective communication, public speaking and group decision making. Meanwhile, UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences faculty member Dee Warmath and doctoral student Jordan Bell led students through the human-centered design process, which generates ideas to solve problems by focusing the process on the needs of the people who encounter the challenge.
“We had to be willing to work as a team,” said Emery Freeman, a rising ninth grader at Clarke Central High School. “All of us had a solution, but we had to work together. Our final solution included contributions from everyone’s ideas. It was interesting.”
The students also work with college and local industry mentors, who help guide them through their projects. This year’s industry mentors represented Caterpillar, Inc.; Adaptive Medical Partners; Terrapin Blue; Golden Mist Consulting; the Clarke County School District; and the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.
InnovateU represents just one of several youth programs that the UGA Fanning Institute leads both on campus and in communities across Georgia.
Another example of how the UGA Fanning Institute supports leadership development took place in Woodstock. Faculty members Lauren Healey and Jason Estep facilitated the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Academy for the city of Woodstock.
During the program, the 10 students explored topics such as individual leadership styles and conflict management.
“The program has been very educational, hands-on and fun,” said Lavanya Shankar, academy participant. “I hoped to learn how to grow in my leadership as far as learning what my leadership styles are and I’ve been able to learn so much about conflict management. For example, I want to be more collaborative in the future to invoke everyone’s ideas.”
Shankar also wanted to better understand how Woodstock city government has dealt with growth in the community.
“We have had the chance to work with city council members and the mayor and hear how leadership is very personal and has different styles has been very eye-opening for me in my leadership at my school,” she said. “Programs like this are important for young leaders because it teaches you to reflect on yourself and help you change as a leader to benefit yourself and your community in the long run.”
The students also had the opportunity to explore city government, see how the city serves its constituents and learn how they might be able to get involved over time.
“If we’re going to keep our eye on what’s next, we need to keep our eye on who’s next,” said Michael Caldwell, mayor of Woodstock. “This program is about building our next generation of leaders here at home and making sure they are not just invested in and excited about where they live today, but they are also envisioning and preparing to lead Woodstock tomorrow.”
Whether on campus or in a community, developing youth to be future leaders is part of the life-long leadership mission of the Fanning Institute.
“We are excited to partner with communities like Athens and Woodstock to help young people develop skills vital to their success both in school and in the workforce,” said Lauren Healey, UGA Fanning Institute public service faculty.
For more information on how the UGA Fanning Institute helps communities and organizations build youth leadership programming, click here.
