Suwanee Youth Leaders: Leadership in Community and Beyond Classroom

Following a successful inaugural year, Suwanee Youth Leaders, an eight-month leadership and community development program for high school sophomores and juniors, will be offered again in 2015. The deadline for applications to the City of Suwanee program is December 5. Additional information, including a video, and applications are available at suwanee.com.

The 50 students in the inaugural 2014 program met with a variety of community leaders, developed their individual leadership philosophies and skills, and logged more than 700 community volunteer hours.

Mimi Zhang, a senior at North Gwinnett High School, who participated in the 2014 program, says: “SYL has given me a chance to work deeper within my community on a level I had never experienced before. With SYL, students work with a whole new level of leaders in our community. I have a better understanding of how complicated and structured our City really is.”

Adds July Choi, a junior at North Gwinnett: “I was able to find out who I was as a leader.”

The 2015 program will begin in March with a mandatory two-day retreat and continue monthly through September with programming and hands-on opportunities designed to enhance students’ team-building, communication, and leadership skills. SYL is open to current sophomores and juniors who attend public, private, and home-based schools in the North Gwinnett and Peachtree Ridge clusters.

Thanks to SYL, says Economic and Community Development Director Denise Brinson, “we now have a group of young people who have more knowledge of their community and how local government works and the work that goes into building community. The City wanted to develop a real connection with our schools and find a way to meaningfully encourage youth involvement as prescribed in our 20/20 strategic plan.”

Photo, text: City of Suwanee