BROOKINGS – The City of Brookings and the Brookings Public Library offered a brand new program to the community this summer.
The Brookings Youth Leadership Academy was a 10-week program for seventh, eighth and ninth grade students. Each week of the program featured a different guest speaker talking about different aspects of leadership. The goal of this program was to initiate discussions with young people about the importance of being leaders, both now and in the future.
Program participants were: Charlie Bisgard, Samuel Brandenburger, Kaitlyn Doom, Hannah Duncan, Laura Duncan, Ava Gaalswyk, Alexia Giessinger, Allie Hofer, Audrey Jensen, Kes Jung, Allyanna McKnight, Jordan Mofle, Sophia Poppen, Adison Renkl, and Brea Tonsager.
The program included the following discussion topics:
• The meaning of leadership
• The character traits that make a leader
• History of leadership
• The different types of leaders
• What we learn from leaders
• The importance of setting goals and working through obstacles
• Recognizing stress and identifying healthy ways to manage stress
• Cultural diversity, inclusion and appreciating differences
• Community engagement: Identifying things you are passionate about and getting involved in the community
• Cyber safety and demonstrating caution within online settings
• Cyber bullying and thinking before you like, comment or share pictures and posts from others.
• Consequences of choices and knowing when to walk away from people or situations
• Embracing your individuality and not being influenced to make bad decisions
• The importance of humility, empathy and compassion
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Developing a growth mindset
The program was created by Sarah Meusburger following a strategic planning meeting among the Brookings Board of Trustees and several community members. Meusburger works as the Human Resources Director for Banner Associates, Inc. and also as an HR Consultant for Sioux Falls consulting firm, Alternative HRD, LLC. She is a member of the Brookings Library Board of Trustees.
This program couldn’t have happened without the support from the City of Brookings, the five community sponsors and the willingness of all of the guest speakers – Keith Corbett, mayor of Brookings, Paul Briseno, city manager, and Ashia Gustafson, library director. The five community sponsors included Banner Associates, Inc., Daktronics, Inc., First Bank & Trust, Larson Family Foundation, and Brookings Area United Way.
The Brookings Youth Leadership Academy guest speakers included Keith Corbett, Leah Brink, Monica Jorgenson, Amy Ward, Kas Williams, Forencio Aranda, Jason Meusburger, Brianna Doran, Martin Stanwick, Joanie Holm, Brad Wermers and Cassie Juba. Meusburger said, “Everyone played such an important part in making this program a success!”
The idea for the program stemmed largely from Meusburger’s role as a parent. Meusburger said, “There’s this old saying that ‘it takes a village to raise a child.’ I believe that to be true. If Brad Wermers talks to my son about leadership, for example, he’s more likely to pay attention than if I talk to him about it.” Meusburger and her husband, Jason, have three children, ages 11, 7 and 4.
In addition to gaining local support, Meusburger requested support from Gov.r Kristi Noem to generate a statewide initiative. Noem agreed that youth leadership is important to the State of South Dakota and approved a proclamation making Aug. 11-17 Youth Leadership Week in South Dakota. There are two primary purposes of this proclamation and this initiative. First, Brookings wants to encourage other communities to put similar programs in place to prepare young people. Meusburger has shared the program with several communities and has offered assistance in getting programs going. As a result, the City of Mitchell is working on a similar program. The other purpose is to encourage all community members to take an opportunity to mentor a young person and help them be successful.
“There’s no down side to offering a program such as this. There’s no down side to supporting the young people in the community. They represent a significant part of our community and have opportunities to make huge impacts both now and in the future. Why not take the time to try to prepare them for that? Why not encourage them to set big goals?” Meusburger said.
Although this was the first year for the Brookings Youth Leadership Academy, plans are already underway to offer it again next summer. Anyone interested in this program is encouraged follow the City of Brookings and the Brookings Public Library websites.
