The Super Leaders of St. Charles High School
An inside look of the responsibilities of Super Leaders
Super Leaders at Blackhurst Elementary
Whether you have heard announcements or seen special playing cards around the building, you have probably heard the title of “Super Leaders’ being tossed around St. Charles High School. The question is: what exactly are Super Leaders? Some may think that it is a club offered at St. Charles High, but it’s a little bit more detailed than that.
Local elementary schools, Null and Blackhurst, started the special program known as “Super Leaders”. This program has students from St. Charles High take field trips to either Null or Blackhurst Elementary to mentor younger students on the seven healthy habits. These habits are known as being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, think-win-win, seek first to understand, then to be understood, synergize, and to sharpen the saw. To be selected into the Super Leader program, students must be sought out by their coaches or directors within the extracurricular activities they participate in. These students must show strong leadership in order to be selected for the program.
“Coaches or directors usually look for somebody who is a good role model, someone that is trustworthy and has good character traits obviously since they are around younger kids,” Activities Director Ben Owens said.
There are 14 boys and 14 girls that are in Super Leaders this year that travel to either Null or Blackhurst Elementary seven times throughout the school year. Leaders are all assigned one specific healthy habit out of the seven to represent. While at the schools, these leaders teach Elementary students about their healthy habits, have lunch with the students, and join the kids at recess. The Super Leaders value the time they spend with their younger peers.
We want the best students representing our school. — Ben Owens
“My favorite part of being a Super Leader is talking to the kids and interacting with the kids,” senior Super Leader Alyssa Birkenmeier said.
“Getting to talk to all the kids is really fun,” junior Super Leader Ellie Gibbs said.
The Super Leader program is beneficial to both high school students and the elementary school students. While the younger kids get to learn more about the healthy habits, the Super Leaders develop valuable leadership skills that they can take into their future. Students have to have special personality traits in order to properly connect with the kids they teach.
“A Super Leader is someone who is outgoing, good with kids, and active,” Gibbs said.
To make the program even more enjoyable, each Super Leader gets their own personalized playing card with their picture and their assigned healthy habit featured on the card. There is so much to gain from this program and the Super Leaders get more experience with utilizing their positive personality traits in order to help others learn.
“It is a really good experience, you learn a lot by interacting with the kids,” Birkenmeier said.
