The Northern Illinois Leadership Seminar Program

OUR MISSION

We ignite the spirit to make a difference and teach life-long leadership skills to high school students in Illinois who demonstrate a spark of leadership through attendance at our seminars and involvement with our alumni group, at no cost to the student or the school.

OUR VISION

We unleash the leadership potential of Illinois ' youth.

OUR GOALS

We will ignite the spirit to make a difference and teach life-long leadership skills by:

1. Creating an open and inclusive environment in which thoughts and ideas may be freely exchanged
2. Providing essential tools and skills for leadership development
3. Exposing students to a broad spectrum of views and opinions through a diverse group of leaders
4. Instilling an appreciation for the diversity of the world in which we live
5. Providing on-going support through our alumni group, volunteers and other opportunities
6. Encouraging continued community service.

OUR APPROACH

Presentations are the first piece of our seminars. Experts on the same general topic who have very different opinions share their beliefs, proof of those beliefs and how they apply them as leaders in their industries, communities, government, world in general, etc. Students are provided the opportunity to ask any question - so long as it is not demeaning or belittling. Hearing divergent opinions like this is a first for many students.

Group Discussions follow presentations. Each adult "Coach" works with a group of 8-10 students throughout the weekend. We choose these groups to be as diverse in location, race and gender as possible. In this environment, where there are no preconceived ideas, peer pressure or common groupthink, students are all challenged to verbalize their opinions, listen to those of others and begin to develop their own opinions on topics for the first time. The opportunity to speak their mind in a safe environment and hear anecdotal evidence of opinions different from their own is a first for most all our students. The goal here is to develop a more complete picture of society and how they fit into it. This is both the most interesting and most challenging concept.

Presentation followed by Group Discussion occurs 4-5 times throughout the course of the weekend. They is interspersed with motivational speakers from organizations like Dale Carnegie or individuals with particularly outstanding stories who can provide the initial challenges of taking responsibility for your own actions and exemplifying that we are only limited by ourselves. These activities do not include students' personal interaction time and discussion in social events, meals or simply hanging out in the dorm rooms.

From there, we introduce near term challenges and opportunities. For example, over 20 colleges and universities make time to speak with our students. We introduce students to community service as a way to immediately take on leadership roles. We provide a series of community service activities where they are responsible for figuring out, coordinating and completing the tasks at hand.

Finally, we challenge each student to provide 100 hours of service in his/her local community. This effectively introduces the concept of giving back to those who gave them the opportunity to attend our seminar. Local churches, hospitals, public libraries, nature centers, 4H clubs, the American Cancer Society, Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, YMCA, March of Dimes, the Salvation Army, Big Brothers/Big Sisters have all benefited from this challenge - to name a few. The 100 hours is in partnership with a federal program called The Partnership For America's Future. Hours are currently tracked manually. However, we will be developing a tracking program through our website.

For those students who wish to continue with Northern Illinois Leadership, we have a very active Alumni program that provides opportunities for social get-togethers, community service and the opportunity to act as junior coaches in upcoming seminars.