Leadership class students learn a lot from service projects

Berkeley Springs High School students in business education teacher Keyoung Gill’s leadership class recently shared insights on what they learned about leadership from community service projects. The class is part of the High School of Business program.

Projects were Berkeley Springs State Park clean-ups, a community auction to benefit the Morgan County Partnership, selling bracelets to benefit the Boys & Girls Club and collecting used clothing for the Shenandoah Women’s Center.

Park clean-up
Students collected over 14 huge bags of leaves at the park.
From their project, senior Chelsea Fischer said she learned to be a leader, to be prompt, to take charge and to be a good role model.

Senior Chelsea Royster learned reliability, responsibility, to show up on time and do their job and team work.

Senior Cassie Ack said you still have to do your part even when your group members show up.

Freshman Chance Beahm noted that completing the project gave them a sense of accomplishment.

Senior Mandi Divel was glad they got to spend time together and did the community some good.

Being responsible and respectful and doing things in a timely manner were important. Leadership involved knowing that sometimes you had to put your foot down, said senior Arissa Wingard.

Auction
Sophomore Ivory Bittorie said they raised around $80 for the Morgan County Partnership with their auction. It made the leaders in the group stand out, she said.

They learned about leadership and negotiating, said freshman Theresa Wood.
They had to give up other project ideas that weren’t coming together, Bittorie said.

Freshman Emily Cocchiaro felt a leader should take charge when everything is falling apart and not going correctly.

Sophomore Jordan Unger learned how to be a leader, how to set goals and what characteristics are important, like being accepting of others and taking into account what others say.

Bracelets
Sophomore Allissa Guinta said their group’s bracelet project was still in progress. Proceeds will help the Boys & Girls Club get needed repairs.

Guinta felt she learned to be more organized. Time management, how to work with all kinds of different people and how to deal with people and understand them better were other things she gained from class.

Senior Demitria McKee said she learned how to be a better person from the class and how to manage something.

Senior Kayla Richards learned to stay more organized and manage time.

Clothing drive
A clothing collection for the women’s shelter went pretty well, said junior Christen Kesecker. She said the big thing they learned was responsibility.

“You have to do what you say you’re going to do,” said junior Melissa Riggleman.

Class focus
In class, students learned about the different types of leaders, what it takes to be a leader, communication, accepting feedback and criticism, conflict resolution, working as a team and negotiations, said Gill, who also teaches Aries Technology.

For their projects, teens had to do marketing and flyer distribution, accounting, oral presentations, phone calls, planning, assigning responsibilities and giving progress updates.

They learned there are so many things to consider when planning a project, so working in groups together doesn’t always mean they’ll get along just because they’re friends, Gill said.

High School of Business
The High School of Business is an accelerated program designed by MBA Research and Curriculum Center to attract kids that are going to college to major in business or that will be attending college and want a business background.

Other courses offered are wealth management, principles of business, business economics, marketing, finance, management and business strategies.
The wealth management class teaches teens about personal finance, stocks, investments, loans, credit cards and managing money.

The principles of business course covers business law, economics, marketing, human resources management, information management and operations.

In the principles of business class, students learn to work in groups and on projects. They look up careers, pick a business to research and interview a business person, Gill said.

Other courses explore consumer spending, economic conditions, global competition, entrepreneurship, strategic planning, decision-making, business financing and risk management.

Students in their final year have to do a 20-hour internship, she said. They also run their own non-profit venture outside of school grounds, incorporating what they’ve learned from the program.

With the High School of Business, students take eight classes in four years and learn skills to apply, even if they’re not going into business, she said.

“The program is designed to produce responsible young adults in today’s society that have an understanding of finance and business strategies,” Gill said.