Helping Build Tomorrow's Leaders: Five Year Summary
Building Tomorrow’s Leaders was developed in partnership with North Dakota Department of Public Instruction to bring a comprehensive civic engagement program geared to high school students that is also that also works with grades seven and eight. The program empowers students to strengthen leadership skills, builds confidence in young adults, empowers students for involvement and creates a sense of community. Also available is Building Tomorrow's Leaders Jr. geared to upper elementary and middle school students.
Youth who are inspired to become leaders and are motivated to be civically engaged throughout their lifetime become adults who live, work and invest in their communities.
Since 2018, 123 classes and organizations have implemented Building Tomorrow’s Leaders, reaching more than 2,000 students. Building Tomorrow’s Leaders has been implemented in a variety of ways. The program has been a part of family and consumer sciences, agriculture, leadership, career education and civics classes. Building Tomorrow’s Leaders has been used with student council and student leadership teams.
| School Year | Number of Schools | Classes/Organizations | Students Impacted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 19 | 28 | 516 |
| 2019-20 | 18 | 23 | 399 |
| 2020-21 | 9 | 9 | 128 |
| 2021-22 | 19 | 29 | 433 |
| 2022-23 | 22 | 34 | 541 |
The students applied what they learned and completed a service project that benefitted their school and/or community. Examples of service projects include a community garden, healthy snack food cart, children’s book drive, school beautification and tie blankets to benefit others.
Evaluation Results
Students completed an evaluation before and after their participation in the program to rate their understanding of various aspects of leadership.
Range: 1 — Strongly Disagree to 5 — Strongly Agree
| Survey Statements | Pre | Post |
|---|---|---|
| I can recognize the strengths and assets that make an effective leader. | 3.64 | 4.33 |
| I understand basic personality types and effective communication techniques to use with each type. | 3.33 | 4.20 |
| I understand the basics of parliamentary procedure. | 3.09 | 3.80 |
| I know how to prepare for an interview. | 3.50 | 4.24 |
| I understand etiquette in professional situations, such as formal dining. | 3.49 | 4.17 |
| I can model effective ways to deal with group conflict. | 3.44 | 4.11 |
| I understand the leadership opportunities available in school and my community. | 3.63 | 4.17 |
| I can develop goals and strategies to implement a group project at school or in my community. | 3.50 | 4.14 |
Teacher Feedback
"The Building Tomorrow’s Leaders program has been an integral tool for helping us to cultivate leadership amongst our students. By utilizing this program with our Student Ambassador club, we have empowered an extremely diverse group of students to come together to learn about leadership and then put their knowledge and skill into practice. It has been extremely fun and rewarding to see these students grow as they engage with one another to complete projects and host events for our school and community."
"I had the opportunity to see students with no voice go through these modules and find their passion. It has been amazing to watch the leadership skills of our executive group and members in general become focused. I am convinced that without the things they learned going through this program and being able to see local leaders in action we would not have been able to accomplish the many projects we succeeded in this year."
"Students became more actively involved in leadership roles. Building Tomorrow’s Leaders emphasizes many skills that our young people need to be successful in society."
Participation across North Dakota
Light Blue Stars: Schools participating in Northeast Education Services Cooperative (NESC) Building Tomorrow's Leaders events
Dark Blue Stars: Building Tomorrow's Leaders Jr. participating schools
Yellow Stars: Schools participating in NESC Building Tomorrow's Leaders Jr. event
