Members of the Teencentric Leadership Program at Owensboro High School worked together Thursday morning to build bicycles for 10 elementary school students. The project was part of the Leaders’ Institute Build-A-Bike Program.
Forty students gathered in the OHS gym, where program facilitator Laura Lewis-Barr explained how they would learn real-world business principals throughout the program.
Working in teams of four, participants solved puzzles to earn a piece of an unassembled bike. Sometimes the pieces were duplicates they didn’t need, or that didn’t match their bike, so they had to learn to cooperate and negotiate instead of merely competing.
“On some of the puzzles, there were multiple correct answers, but we were only looking for one specific one,” Lewis-Barr said. “In a career, you may come to your boss with a solution but it’s not the one they want.”
She regularly holds this program with adults, including Fortune 500 companies, but the students at OHS worked together to complete their task faster than most.
Program sponsor Travis Chaney said the students learned leadership, resourcefulness, teamwork and philanthropy.
“Beyond working together, the kids had to get up and talk about their experience,” said Drew Watson, program sponsor. “Getting up in front of a relatively large group is a challenge.”
Michelle Mayfield of the Owensboro High School Youth Services Center arranged for 10 students from Cravens, Estes and Foust Elementary Schools to receive the assembled bikes. Students were chosen based on items like attendance or grades.
This is the first year for the Teencentric Leadership Program at OHS. Organizers brought in top youth speakers EJ Carrion and Jessie Funk as part of the program and worked in small groups to discuss entrepreneurship principles.
“The program has benefited the targeted group of students but has also impacted our school as a whole,” said Gabrielle Hart, guidance counselor at OHS. “Our students have learned valuable lessons about business but more importantly about life in general. They have learned about being productive and valuable citizens, and how to be a contributing member of a community. I look forward to watching the program grow in the years to come.”
For program sponsors Watson and Chaney, growing is definitely in the plans.
“Our second year is going to be even bigger and better,” Chaney said.
