STUDENT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING
Student leadership training that goes deeper than the title.
The strongest student leaders aren’t always the loudest students or the ones with a position next to their name. Leadership shows up in how students treat people, the influence they have on a group, and what they choose to do with that influence.
The Core Project provides experiential leadership training for middle and high school students. Through facilitated activities, conversation, and reflection, students examine how they show up, how they affect the people around them, and what it means to use their influence in service of something beyond themselves.
These experiences can be designed for student councils, leadership classes, peer mentors, athletic leaders, school clubs, or other groups of students your school is asking to lead.
FROM THE INSIDE OUT
Leadership is influence. What students do with it matters.
Students often arrive at leadership training thinking about positions, responsibilities, or how to get other people to follow them. We start somewhere different.
Before students can think seriously about leading others, they need opportunities to look at themselves. How do I show up in a group? How do other people experience me? What happens to the room when I walk into it? Who gets included? What am I doing with the influence I already have?
The goal is to help students see leadership less as status and more as responsibility. When that shift happens, service becomes less about completing a requirement and more about recognizing that the way you treat people matters.
You don’t have to be in charge to change the experience of the people around you.
THE EXPERIENCE
Students don’t just hear about leadership. They experience it.
Students participate in activities that get them interacting beyond their usual circles. They have conversations they may not normally have and opportunities to hear how other people experience school, relationships, and leadership.
The facilitator pays close attention to what is happening in the group and uses those moments to guide the conversation. Sometimes that means asking another question. Sometimes it means letting something sit for a minute. Sometimes it means helping a student recognize something about themselves or another person that they hadn’t noticed before.
There is room for laughter and discomfort, for students who jump right in and students who take longer to trust the process. The experience builds as the group begins to participate more honestly with one another.
The point isn’t to tell students what a good leader looks like. It’s to give them experiences that make them think differently about the kind of leader they want to be.
WHO IT’S FOR
Built for students learning how to lead.
Some students have formal leadership roles. Others are just beginning to see the influence they have. Leadership can look different depending on the student, the group, and the setting.
The Core Project works with middle and high school student groups in a variety of settings, including:
Student Councils & ASB
Help elected student leaders think beyond the position and consider how they use their influence across the school.
Peer Mentors & Student Ambassadors
Prepare students to welcome, support, and connect with other students in ways that feel genuine.
Leadership Classes & Programs
Create an experience that moves leadership concepts off the page and gives students opportunities to examine themselves and practice what they are learning.
Athletic Teams & Team Leaders
Explore the influence students have on teammates, team culture, and the way people are treated.
Don’t see your group here?
We also create custom student leadership experiences for schools, conferences, retreats, camps, and organizations.
Clubs, Camps & Retreat Groups
Bring students together around a shared experience that can strengthen relationships and create a different kind of conversation.
WHAT STUDENTS TAKE WITH THEM
Leadership gets more personal.
As students move through the experience, leadership begins to feel less like a role they perform and more like a choice they make in everyday moments.
They begin thinking about who gets noticed and who gets overlooked. Whether their influence makes it easier or harder for someone else to belong. What it looks like to listen when there is nothing to gain from it. And how small choices can change another person’s experience.
This is where service starts to mean something different. It doesn’t have to be a project, a position, or a big gesture. Sometimes leadership is simply noticing someone and choosing to show up for them.
“It doesn’t take a best friend to be a real friend.”
-Greg Sommers
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
What students say after the experience.
The best way to understand the impact of these experiences is to hear from the students who have been part of them.
“I never ever thought that a school assembly could make me think about myself the way you did.”
“I just wanted to reach out. I wanted you to know that my life has forever been changed. I took the biggest step back and I truly think I’ll never forget what it’s like to feel and empathize the way you made me realize everyone deserves.
I never realized what my environment was doing to me and how it was impacting how I treat others. I couldn’t make any other words of how this felt besides ‘I just want to be good’ and that’s it for me. I want to be good and I want to think about others.”
— Student, Kellogg High School
“I didn’t believe that others saw me as a leader.”
“This experience has allowed me to see the students connect in a way I’ve always wanted to see before. It has allowed me to know a few people more than the way I recognized them, and I am grateful for that. I now feel a closer bond to a few more students that I have never even spoken to, and that’s crazy, and awesome at the same time!
When I was told that I was nominated by a few teachers to be part of your training program, I was completely shocked. I didn’t believe that others saw me as a leader.”
— Student Body Vice President, Notus Jr.-Sr. High School
“Within the first hour, students are participating and making connections in ways that I have not witnessed before.”
“By the end of the program... I watch students walk away with new understandings of themselves, of their peers, and of their ability to connect with one another in an authentic and compassionate way.”
— Advisor, Teton High School
“Students learn very quickly to step out of their comfort zone and interact with others authentically.”
“Greg’s knack for creating such an open and positive atmosphere with youth is unmatched.”
— Teacher, Sandpoint High School
REACH OUT
Let’s talk about what your students need.
Every group is different. Tell us a little about your students and what you’re hoping to address. We can help you think through what the experience could look like and answer questions about scheduling or pricing.