How our Lead2Feed partnership empowers students to lead and inspires them to serve.
Today, we’re kicking off a series introducing families and students to our partner Lead2Feed and the 6-lesson curriculum that will empower and inspire our leaders to serve both at the Summit and back at home.
It’s simple: service is a core tenet of Ambassador Leaders. It’s the lens through which we view leadership. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Everyone can be great, because greatness is determined by service.” We believe the same can be said for leadership; anyone can be a leader, because everyone can serve.
That’s why each one of our Leadership Summits incorporates a community service project, and it’s why our partnership with the Lead2Feed Student Leadership Program is invaluable.
“Anyone can be a leader, because everyone can serve.””
Based on the best-selling book Taking People With You by Yum! Brands Co-founder, retired Chairman and CEO David Novak, the Lead2Feed program nurtures the next generation of leaders as they learn how to meet critical community needs through project management, decision-making, and teamwork.
During the Leadership Summits and the months that follow, our students take part in the Lead2Feed Project Challenge. It all starts at the Summit, where students complete a 6-lesson curriculum guiding them through the process of developing a community action plan. From “Be Your Best Self” leadership skills to “The Change is Never Over” project skills, students work in teams to identify a community need and craft an action plan to address it. Then, they take their plans home and get their friends, classmates, and teachers on board to make positive changes in their schools and local communities.
And there’s an added bonus. Students who enter their community action plan in the Lead2Feed Project Challenge could win a $10,000 grant for their school or partner non-profit.
The thoughtfulness and diversity among our students’ action plans never cease to amaze us. Whether they’re tackling hunger, mental health, veteran services, or environmental issues, students come together and use their individual strengths to solve the problems facing their generation. In the process, they gave confidence, leadership and communication skills, and an understanding of the contributions they can make to the causes they care about.
In the lead up to our 2019 Leadership Summits, we will publish weekly posts featuring each of the lessons students will experience firsthand. Our contributor Linda Spahr is the Program Manager for Lead2Feed. Follow along as she highlights each lesson — learn to be your authentic self and “take people with you” to do great things.
By Corie Bales
Corie is the Academic Affairs Manager of Ambassador Leaders. As a lifelong educator and avid traveler, she believes in empowering students and teachers to learn and lead through experiential education.