Key Leaders of tomorrow
Scott Johnson, a management and organizational leadership consultant, takes the Key Leader group through an exercise in which youth need to get on the log and organize themselves by various factors and data without stepping off the log. The students learn to physically support one another as they traverse the log.
Kids need adults who care. Kiwanis International is a club that consists of a local group of volunteers who serve their communities around the world. The members strive to be a positive influence on youth. The Village at Castle Pines resident Chris Scurto is one of those volunteers. He is enthusiastic about today’s youth and hopeful for their future.
Chris has been a member of the Rocky Mountain District of Kiwanis (RMDK) and a Key Leader chair for six years. His business mind and initiative were just what RMDK needed to expand the Kiwanis Key Leader (KL) program throughout Colorado communities.
KL is a weekend leadership program for high school and graduating eighth grade students. The mission is to inspire young people to achieve their personal best, become more confident, and maximize their potential through service leadership.
KL activities focus on five key areas: creating values-based leadership, building meaningful relationships and communities, respect for self and others, personal growth and personal integrity.
The program takes inspiration from the principles of servant leadership, which asserts that leadership starts with being a servant to those you are leading.
Chris is making sure the KL program is sustainable year in and year out and removes any burdens, primary financial, from the kids. Kiwanis will never turn away a kid. If they do, “We miss out on the next Einstein of the future and that worries me,” said Chris.
“Key Leader has given me so many amazing memories and new ways to work through difficult leadership situations,” said Chloe S., a KL student participant.
The RMDK includes Colorado, Wyoming and the panhandle of Nebraska. It hosts two KL sessions each fall in Casper, Wyoming, and Estes Park. Each session can host 60 student participants, which includes eight small group leaders (also called neighborhood leaders), and is facilitated by highly qualified and leadership professionals.
Students who have been through the program return to the KL sessions to lead the small groups, where they gain firsthand experience managing activities with their peers and learning to collaborate, even with some of the more reticent participants. This experience serves them regardless of what they go on to next in life.
“Colleges, universities and institutions are looking for students with real world experience with leadership,” said Chris.
Sierra, a student participant, agreed that KL taught her how to build a better community by being a good leader. “You also get to meet so many people your own age and make great connections,” added Sierra.
It is a safe environment for kids to communicate and to fail. “Kids learn when they fail; they also survive that failure with the proper leadership and communication tools,” concluded Chris. To learn more, visit www.key-leader.org.
With YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park as the backdrop, the goal for the students at the Kiwanis Key Leader session is to form a perfect square while blindfolded and few group members being able to speak. The exercise explores various communication and leadership styles.
By Julie Matuszewski; photos courtesy of Chris Scurto
