 Hello, welcome to the toolkit to help build tomorrow's leaders. This is Brenda Ermentra with the Department of Public Instruction. And this is Maxine Lukach with the NDSU Extension. Have you seen the putting a wood scorer through a balloon without popping trick? It can be done, but it takes preparation. As preparation is key in guiding individuals to become effective leaders. Do high school youth students know how to communicate effectively? Can they run a efficient meeting? Can they make a great first impression? Do they know how to handle conflict? Do they understand how policies and laws are made? Most teens today do not, and they're missing the skills needed to not only be an involved community member, but also a future leader. The Building Tomorrow's Leaders Program emphasizes civic engagement. Goals of the program include empowering students, building their confidence, strengthening their leadership skills, and helping them understand how to complete a project. There's flexibility to this program. Sites that decide to implement it can decide what time works best for them from all day implementation to spreading it out over a period of time or over the course of a class. It can be incorporated into an already existing class such as a civics class, a leadership or a life skills class, or it can be done as a separate project with specialty groups such as your student council. It's highly flexible and can be adapted to meet the needs of your school. Today in this very short presentation, we're going to cover the eight modules that comprise the program. Each of these modules will be prepared and ready to use for you with an overview, program objectives that are aligned with the North Dakota content and achievement standards, power points you can use, and all the directions you need for the activities are included in easy to use. Let's take a quick look at each of the modules. With youth to be a great leader, they must first figure out what leadership is youth will identify traits of good leaders, recognizes strengths and assets that make effective leaders and do a team building activity in the principle of the leadership module. In the effective communication module students will learn about basic personality types, effective communication techniques to use with each type and learn how to recognize individual strengths using real colors. Students will learn how to run an effective meeting and participate in the parliamentary procedure using it to make organized and fair decisions. Several fun activities are included in this module. Career preparation is always going to include knowing how to make a great first impression. This module will cover dressing for success, touch on resume construction and also interview 101. Leadership etiquette is also an important part of becoming a strong leader leaders need to know how to successfully navigate those professional situations. They will learn how to create a personal elevator speech. How to use social manners, and also take a look at their social media presence. So what thoughts and feelings come to mind when you hear the word conflict, conflict can be healthy or it can be unhealthy. Students will learn about conflict, be able to recognize its causes and develop strategies to manage conflict in the conflict management module. As the next generation of leaders, it's important for students to understand and know how policies or laws are made. Students will gain an understanding of leadership opportunities, explore local government and the legislative process in the community and state exploration module. In the project management module students will learn the steps and planning and implementing a effective group project. It's exciting to see the students apply what they learned throughout the program and complete a project that will benefit their school or community. A couple examples include janitor appreciation month, a food drive, a book drive, sunshine with the elderly. It's been fun to see all the different things the students have come up with some of the feedback that was gathered from students who participated in this program, or that it has increased their confidence in public speaking. Students can learn to collaborate better with others. It's helped them get a look from a leader's perspective at what it's like, and it has increased their skills and understanding of professional networking. One of the highlights for students has been the real colors training. The modules are carefully designed around the North Dakota learning standards, and they align with the areas of career and technical education, English language arts, the library and technology standards, as well as social studies standards. This program also aligns with the choice ready framework for North Dakota students, getting them ready for the workforce, college, or military. The application is available on the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction website under programs under the program tab called Building Tomorrow's Leaders. It is a two part application. This grant is available through a non competitive process. There is a limited amount of funding available, so we do award on a first come first serve basis. The application for the project is going to involve an overview of what you would like to do, and then the budget is sometimes some of the main categories that funding is awarded for are field trips, supplies, covering the projects, the booklets, and then sometimes a stipend for speakers within the program, or field trips to observe civic programs. So how can you build tomorrow's leaders? Preparation is key in being able to stick that wood screw through a balloon without popping it by stirring the screw in a glass that has had soap added to it. As preparation is also key to pick to prepare students to become effective leaders. Help students gain the skills necessary to become an involved community member and leader by implementing the building tomorrow's leaders program with your students. This has been a really quick overview, but we wanted to highlight the program for you. If you have any questions, please contact Maxine with NDSU Extension or Brenda with the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. We'd be happy to help you and we look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. Have a great day.