BOOKS 4 GIRLS: Featured Book
Girls and Young Women Leading the Way: 20 True Stories about Leadership, by Frances A. Karnes, Ph.D., and Suzanne M. Bean, Ph.D.
You can find opportunities for school leadership in clubs, organizations, and student government. Look around your school. Are there conditions you think need to be improved? What are the areas or issues you feel should be addressed? The stories of leadership in this section show how one person can make a difference through her leadership ability. As you think about school leadership, remember that a school leader doesn't have to be appointed or elected to an office. A leader is someone who searches for challenges and initiates positive change. A leader organizes others toward a common goal.
Excerpt from Part 2, LEADERSHIP IN ACTION: IN SCHOOL
What 11 Year old Jennifer Kyer Did
What You Can Do
Find Out More, Get Involved
Where to Find the Book
Jennifer Kyer is 11 years old and has always lived in New Jersey. Her family includes her mother, older brother, and her dog, as well as a few hamsters and mice. She is close to her cousins and grandmother, who live near, and she misses her grandfather who died a few years ago.
Jennifer's favorite hobbies include drawing and writing stories. She also loves to play soccer and ride horses.
When she was in fourth and fifth grades, Jennifer won first place in the tri-community spelling bee. In 1992, she won a local newspaper contest titled "Pride in Your Neighborhood" for her recycling efforts at her school. Jennifer was also named a semifinalist in the national "Take Pride in America" competition. She and her mother traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the national ceremony.
Recently, Jennifer was one of 15 students statewide to win an essay competition called "Passport to New Jersey," in which she visited two state attractions of historical or educational interest and wrote about them. In Trenton, the state capitol, Lucindo Florio, the First Lady of New Jersey, met the students and presented them with prizes and certificates.
Jennifer's future goals include helping the Earth in any way she can and becoming an animal breeder for animals of all shapes and sizes.
WHEN I WAS IN FOURTH GRADE, MY CLASS studied our state government and its officials. As part of our social studies class, each student pretended to be governor of New Jersey by learning about town, county, and state government. I wrote a letter to James Florio, the governor of New Jersey, and invited him to our class to see what we were studying. He said he would visit us.
During his talk to our class, the governor spoke about the importance of recycling. He said we should recycle as much as possible to save the environment. After his talk, I decided to get our school to recycle some of its trash.
Most of the students in my school bring their lunches every day and eat them in a lunchroom. We always have a lot of garbage at lunchtime. In the summer before I began fifth grade, I met with my school principal to work out a lunchtime recycling program and develop ideas to let all students know the importance of recycling.
In addition to meeting with the principal, I wrote to over 100 organizations and companies asking their advice about recycling, such as posters, videos, curriculum guides, and stickers. I put the posters around the school and shared all the materials so students would be more aware of the need to recycle.
To get some town support for my program, I attended a mayor and council meeting at my Town Hall. I spoke about recycling and the lunchtime program we were developing at school.
For the recycling program, I decided to collect cans, paper products, and plastics. I placed three bins in the lunchroom and made signs asking students to separate their trash. My town agreed to send trucks to pick up the bins and take them to a local recycling center.
Many students took the time to separate their trash and the recycling program became a success. It's still in operation today.
Most of the people I wrote to and spoke with about recycling helped me with ideas. My principal encouraged me very much. I didn't meet many obstacles, except it was hard to find a time when my principal could meet with me to set up the program and approve my ideas.
When I was in sixth grade, I worked on a large can recycling drive. My school made arrangements with the county to pick up the cans we collected. The county weighed the cans and paid my school money for each pound of cans we gave them. I would like to see as much trash as possible recycled at my school and in my town.
I believe my recycling projects helped many students learn about the importance of recycling. Also, the school has learned that a student can contribute good ideas to help everyone. Sometimes kids really come up with worthwhile things!
I plan to use my abilities to help save Mother Earth in any way I can. My advice to any student who wants to become a more effective leader is to choose a worthwhile idea or project and then motivate others to help you put your ideas into action.
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- Is there a need for more environmental awareness in your school or community? To find out, conduct a survey of students or community members. After analyzing the information from your survey, develop and implement a plan for action.
- Competition for a good cause can be fun. Start a recycling competition between grades at your school or between schools in your community.
- Find out if your school or community has an active club focusing on environmental issues. If it does, consider becoming a member. If it doesn't, why not start one?
- Do senior citizens in your community know all the ways to recycle? If they don't, develop an interesting program to present to civic groups, churches, nursing homes, retirement communities, and other groups for seniors.
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Keep America Beautiful, Incorporated
Mill River Plaza
9 West Broad Street
Stamford CT 06902
Internet: http://www.kab.org
Provides information about ways you can get involved to beautify your community.
Kids Against Pollution
Tenakill School
275 High Street
Closter, NJ 07624
Sends out information on this networking group that works to stop pollution.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of External Relations and Education
Youth Programs (A-108)
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Internet: http://www.epa.gov/kids
Provides educational materials about the environment for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
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