Zana Royster
Staff Writer
Leadership is an elective open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. In Mrs. Cordero and Mr. Henry’s leadership class, students learn valuable skills like communication, effective planning, and other professional social tactics. Students help plan school-wide events and engage in the community. To thank our seniors for their hard work these past four years, we interviewed them about their favorite leadership experiences throughout high school.
One of the seniors, Elizabeth Lane, shares that her favorite event was when she helped organize and plan our school’s first field day of the year. “I’ve made so many amazing friends through leadership. Leadership has allowed me to be able to collaborate with others and how to share responsibility in a group,” said Lane. In addition to her teamwork expertise, Lane is a talented musician and plans to attend the University of California Santa Barbara to major in Film.
Avery Miller is in her first year in the leadership class. Her favorite events include helping the Alexandria City Police Department’s Christmas tree sale and helping organize the Dance for All Ages. She enjoys how leadership allows her to help give back to the community and donate to people in need. Some skills Miller has picked up include learning how to communicate with peers and adults alike and learning about different leadership methods that help her deal with new situations that arise. Miller is a starter on the softball team and committed to play at Longwood University next season.
Miracle Gross is an active member of leadership, student government, and the Black Student Union, just to name a few of the ways she’s involved in the community. Her favorite event was also the Dance for All Ages. She enjoyed learning some new dance moves from the elderly. Through her three years of leadership, her teamwork, task distribution, and communication skills have all improved. She’s also been able to “thoroughly plan events” and has been the force behind many at our school. Gross will be attending Hampton University this fall.
Annalie McCarthy is a second year leadership student. McCarthy’s favorite events were also Christmas tree sales and Art on the Avenue. She enjoys connecting with the community and says that leadership gives her a great opportunity to do so. Through these events, she says, “We were able to connect directly with the community, with and without school, which is really cool.” Some skills leadership helped her improve on include communication and problem solving. These skills were incorporated into planning events and working around obstacles. Outside of leadership, McCarthy is a member of the volleyball team and will attend Penn State in the fall.
