Tinkertoys, Legos and leadership bring students together

Twenty-four high school juniors and seniors recently attended a two-day leadership retreat to kick off the seventh year of the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce Youth Leadership program. The twenty-four students—eight each from Bradley Central, Cleveland and Walker Valley High Schools—were selected a few months ago to be a part of this class.

The Youth Leadership program encompasses eight months and gives the students opportunities to learn about our local economy, heritage and tourism, city and county services, health and human services, and a day in Nashville to learn about state government.

For the second year, the retreat began with a challenging presentation of the Five Ways to Develop Leadership Qualities presented by Lee University professor and former professional tennis player Kay McDaniel. 

Encouraging the students to find their own signature, she told the students, “Life parallels tennis. If you serve well, you finish well.”

McDaniel also told the young leaders, “Private victories precede public victories. . . . I believe the best leadership is God-developed leadership.”

First-day activities also included discussion of Ed Gerety’s book Combinations: Opening the Door to Student Leadership, which was required as summer reading before the retreat. Gerety’s combinations discussed included gratitude, attitude, goals, respect, kindness and belief.

“The students were challenged to discover and learn the combinations that will help open the door to student leadership,” Sherry Crye, program coordinator and discussion leader, explained. “These are principles that will empower them to lead with character, make positive choices, and take action toward their goals and dreams.”

Jason Sewell, director of student life and leadership at Cleveland State Community College, brought Tinkertoys into the leadership retreat. He challenged students to build Tinkertoy “Towers of Triumph,” an activity that encouraged thinking outside the box, using problem solving skills and team participation.

Crye and Bernadette Douglas, who also works with the Youth Leadership program, incorporated another building toy as part of the retreat activities. They challenged the students to work as a team and helped them learn the importance of sufficient planning to build “Lego man.”

“Both of these activities helped the students learn the importance of working as a team, utilizing everyone’s strengths and making good decisions,” Crye noted.

Students spent the final afternoon of the retreat at Horn’s Creek NOC Resort where they spent time at the low-ropes course working as a team, building trust and determination. The high-ropes course, which included a climbing wall, 1,000-foot zip line and a giant swing, gave students the opportunity to overcome personal fears and test their limits. The day ended with fun time at the water park.

“We try to gear all the activities and discussions during the retreat toward giving the students an opportunity to recognize some of their leadership skills and build on those,” Crye said. “Most of these students already exhibit leadership qualities. We hope the Youth Leadership program will strengthen them as leaders in their schools now and begin the process of preparing them to be future leaders in Cleveland and Bradley County.”

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