Fourth and fifth grade pupils in the Westerville City School District who attended the Elementary Leadership Summit in the past were invited to participate in an annual Essay Contest. The authors of winning essays – one from grade four, and one from grade five – received $35 Easton Town Center gift cards. This year’s fourth grade winner is Lydia F., from Annehurst Elementary School. She wrote about her experience working in a community garden and helping others. Aidan M., a Mark Twain Elementary student, is the fifth grade winner. He wrote a story entitled Leadership Lemonade, in which he described how he opened a lemonade stand during Westerflora with his friends, and donated all of the proceeds to a local animal shelter.
Essay topics this year included:
- Community Service: Leaders volunteer and make positive contributions to their community. Describe an activity you performed while volunteering, and how it benefited others. How might you inspire students in your school to volunteer and participate in this or a similar activity?
- Problem Solving: Leaders are problem-solvers and must find solutions to issues as they arise. Summarize an issue, situation, or event that you find unfair or think you could improve. As a leader, fully describe the steps you would take to solve this area of concern.
- Conflict Resolution: Leaders seek ways of involving everyone when they see conflicts. Imagine that a new neighbor moves in next door. You want the new neighbor to join the group of kids that you play with, but they wish to exclude this person. Explain in detail a way that you could resolve this situation.
- Healthy Habits: Leaders promote healthy lifestyles. In your school and community, describe in detail and provide specific examples of what you could do as a leader to further enhance the healthy habits of your peers.
Student representatives (grades 3-5) from all Westerville elementary schools are invited to attend the Elementary Leadership Summit each year. Based on submitted essays, two winners are selected from every grade 3-5 classroom in the Westerville Schools (approximately 270 students) by Otterbein education majors. Attendees apply what they learn at the fall summit by developing and implementing community service endeavors in their own school.
Due to the generous support over the years by organizations such as the Westerville Sunrise Rotary Foundation, Immediate Health Urgent Care Centers, and HR Imaging, there is no expense for participants to attend. For more information about the Elementary Leadership Summit and/or to be a sponsor of this district initiative, please contact Dr. Scott Ebbrecht at ebbrechs@wcsoh.org or Brian Orrenmaa at orrenmab@wcsoh.org.