Deadline Friday for Summer Leadership Arlington Youth Program

Are you an Arlington County high school student who wants to learn more about your local community, sharpen your leadership skills and meet new friends? Leadership Arlington offers a two-week summer youth program for rising juniors and seniors, designed to enhance leadership skills and awareness of the need for philanthropy, community service and civic participation.

The deadline to apply for the program is Friday. The dates for the program are August 4-14.

For two weeks, participants meet at different public, private and nonprofit locations throughout Arlington County. Participants have the opportunity to be exposed to diverse organizations and meet with local leaders during this hands-on, experiential program.

Here's more about the program, from Leadership Arlington: Skills sessions focus on professionalism, mentoring, cultural competency and facilitation. Our Youth Program is unique in its “Philanthropy in Action” program session, which allows participants to learn the value of philanthropy through visits to approximately 30 local nonprofits in Arlington. Participants are tasked with deciding on one nonprofit to be the recipient of a $1,000 grant, developing their own criteria for evaluating each nonprofit and coming to consensus about the grant awardee.

The goal of our Youth Program is that every young leader in Arlington be able to:

• Develop leadership skills through a strong curriculum taught by skilled facilitators
• Gain an awareness of the need for community service, civic participation and philanthropy
• Increase familiarity with areas in Arlington beyond their immediate neighborhood and school
• Interact with adult leaders in private, public and nonprofit sectors
• Acquire a network of adult and youth leaders in Arlington, forming an excellent basis for their academic and professional successes

Over the past five years, the Leadership Arlington Youth Program has worked with 130 students from a diverse cross section of our region, representing schools as follows:

• 31% Yorktown High School
• 22% Washington-Lee High School
• 18% Wakefield High School
• 15% H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program
• 15% Private High Schools