In October of 2009, five students from Jonathan Dayton High School—Josh Trinker,
Lindsey Gaon, Allison Weber, Emma McGrath and Scott Sandler—were selected to
attend the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association's
(NJPSA)/Foundation for Educational Administration (FEA) Youth Leadership
Institute. Along with Jonathan Dayton High School teacher Mr. Drew
Krumholz, the students spent a weekend developing their leadership skills
through a variety of obstacles and leadership/team-building activities. When they returned to school, they
created a project that promoted leadership and social capital in the
Springfield community and beyond.
For their project, the Dayton team held the first annual Springfield Youth
Leadership Institute at Jonathan Dayton High School on Saturday April 10.
Middle school teachers chose ten students from each grade level for this
Institute. Thirty students spent the day participating in leadership building
activities. At the conclusion of the day, Mayor Ziad Shehady and Deputy Mayor
Fraenkel spoke to the participants about how important being a young leader is
in the community. During the
2010-2011 school year, 6th and 7th graders who
participated in the Youth Leadership Day will help to organize a community
service project in the Florence M. Gaudineer Middle School. 8th graders who participated
will work as a cohort in the coming school year to organize a community based
project that they will plan and oversee that will help them work toward
fulfilling their 40 hours of required community service that all JDHS freshmen
must complete. Finally, the 8th
graders entering into 9th grade in the fall will help to facilitate
freshmen orientation with the upperclassmen in September. The hope is that they will be able to
help acclimate their peers to the high school.
On April 28, 2010, Lindsey, Emma, Josh, Allie, and Scott along with Mr.
Krumholz went to NJPSA/FEA in Monroe Township where they presented their group
project along with eight other schools from New Jersey. After listening to the
presentations given by all of the schools, the judges announced the winner of
the competition, Jonathan Dayton High School. The prize was a scholarship for
five students to attend the Leadership Institute at Camp Bernie next year free
of charge. In the fall of 2010, these five outstanding Dayton students and Mr.
Krumholz, their faculty mentor, will be recognized at the NJPSA's fall
conference in front of principals and administrators from every corner of New
Jersey. Participation in this program would not have been possible without the
support of high school principal Mrs. Elizabeth Cresci. Congratulations to
Jonathan Dayton High School for a job well done!
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