Brown Leadership Institute: Post Summer
Brown Leadership Institute: Leadership Development for High School Students
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the enormity and complexity of the many challenges facing the world today. To 'be the change we wish to see in the world', we must start with ourselves, by questioning our assumptions, expanding our knowledge and changing our behavior.
Leadership Institute courses can help you rise to all of these challenges, by creating a learning environment that encourages exploration, discussion and personal growth. But what happens after you leave the classroom? How will you respond to the needs of your neighbors, your community and the world?
Leadership Institute Symposium
Students who, in 2012, successfully completed a Leadership Institute course on-campus, at BELL Haffenreffer and/or BELL Costa Rica are encouraged to apply to the Leadership Symposium on Social Action. Please contact Leadership@Brown.edu with any questions you have about the Symposium or your eligibility to participate.
Applications are due by Monday, October 1 at 9 AM.
Student Action Plans
The Action Plan is an opportunity for you to create a project that helps you put your learning to work. During the last week of your course, your instructors and peers will help you develop a plan that applies your new knowledge and leadership skills to a problem or issue in your community. You will have the chance to reflect on what you've learned and delve deeper into the topics that you find compelling. Finally, you will present your action plan to your peers and family at the closing program on the last day of the course.
Below are examples of Leadership Institute Student Action Plans:
Community
- Led or assisted with voter registration drives
- Organized a concert of Freedom Songs from the civil rights movement
- Created an art therapy program for adolescents with HIV
- Tutored middle school children to prepare them for high school
International
- Worked with administrators to strengthen curriculum on international issues
- Worked with school administrators to stop purchasing uniforms made in sweatshops
- Developed educational program focused on Darfur for entire high school
Environmental
- Developed composting systems or recycling programs
- Constructed a wind turbine at school
- Converted school buses to bio-diesel
- Converted light bulbs at school to CFLs
- Educated other students about alternative energy resources
- Eliminated Styrofoam in county buildings
Fundraising
- Raised funds to build schools in Pakistan
- Raised scholarship funds for young people to attend community colleges
- Raised funds for Heifer International
Social Action Plan Certificate
The following spring, you will have the opportunity to submit a final progress report. Those who have committed a significant effort to their work will be given the Certificate for Social Action by the Institute. "Success" isn't so much about the completion of goals as it is about your commitment to process and progress, effort expended and flexibility in adapting goals to meet the needs of the community.