Capstone Service Learning Project Profile: Central High in Macon
by Michael Lage, 2005 Scholar

After months of planning, many meetings, and a lot of effort, the Day of Leadership for the students at Central High School was nothing short of a great success. The ILAD Chargers - Navid Abghari (Finance/Economics), Jeremy Brook (Management), Michael Lage (Marketing), Megan Murphy (Accounting), and Meredith Wilson (Finance) - spent the night in Macon on Thursday and arrived at Central High School at 7:30am Friday morning.

After meeting briefly with Dr. Weaver, Central's Principal, our team introduced ourselves to the students that were selected to participate in the program. Dr. Weaver threw us a curve ball, and nearly 60 students were allowed to participate instead of the 40 that were anticipated. We made arrangements for more food, and Meredith and Megan were instructed in the ways of ropes course facilitation to account for the limited number of facilitators.

Jeremy, Michael, and Navid spent the first hour of the day at Central, speaking with the students about leadership, our experiences in college, and teamwork. Though we were not planning on speaking, we had to use the time wisely until the bus arrived at 9am. Upon arrival at the ropes course, Mercer Ropes Course expert Allan Pitchford welcomed the students. The students were divided up into groups, and we spent the rest of the morning completing different low ropes elements. Emphasis was placed on teamwork, problem-solving, and encouragement and each of the students thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful weather and the interaction with one another. Meredith and Michael picked up the Chick-fil-A (of course!) when the ropes course activities were completed and met the group back at Central.

The students enjoyed lunch in the media center, and afterwards everyone moved upstairs into a cramped, but cozy room on Central's third floor. Navid started the discussion off, and he facilitated discussion regarding what it means to lead in a team setting. The students were very participative, as more emphasis was placed on teamwork and encouragement. Meredith followed Navid by helping to administer the Personality Compass test, which the students all enjoyed. All students were grouped into one of the 4 "directions" of personalities, and Meredith spoke to them about the importance of self-awareness and leveraging one's strengths in order to improve group dynamics. Jeremy followed Meredith, and he led discussion regarding the idea of leading to make a difference, which is what the entire day was centered around. He spoke to the students about having an impact at Central High School, in their communities, and in whatever endeavors they chose to pursue.

To finish the day, we went around and each student contributed an encouraging and positive comment towards the individual student they were assigned to observe for the day out on the ropes course. It made for a more serious, intimate setting, and the students enjoyed hearing compliments from their peers in front of the group. Though the day had to be cut short because of time constraints, Dr. Weaver dismissed all of the students, who were all very appreciative towards us for the enjoyable day. Each student was given the "homework" of writing a letter to themselves regarding the goals and key learnings they had taken away from the day. Dr. Weaver plans to send these letters back to the individual students at the beginning of the next school year, which we anticipate will contribute to a high level of motivation and morale for the students at Central.

In closing, the ILAD Chargers spent some time with Dr. Weaver after the students had been dismissed, and she could not emphasize enough how beneficial the day was for her students. We are all very positive about the future of the partnership between the ILA and Central High School, and we are sure of the fact that the ILA was represented in very high respects. The ball is rolling, and we are optimistic at the prospects of this being a continued opportunity for ILA students to impact Central High School. No doubt, if nothing else, it was great recruiting for UGA and the Terry College of Business. On top of everything though, students' lives were legitimately impacted, as they were given a taste of what the future may hold for them as individuals in addition to receiving a greater perspective on what it truly means to be a leader.