St. Laurence’s Leadership Program began in 2001 at the urging of then STL board member, business leader and alumnus Tim O’Malley. O’Malley had observed that businesses were in need of good leaders and that many universities were developing leadership training courses to meet this need. He felt that St. Laurence was in an excellent position to put itself ahead of the curve and initiate a leadership program that would give St. Laurence students a distinct advantage over other high school students by providing them the skills, confidence and knowledge of effective leaders.
The program started with twenty-five students designated as Leader/Scholars who received weekly training, team building at Irons Oaks Adventure Center, and a special leadership workshop from the Leadership Development Center at Bradley University. Eventually the program expanded and all these experiences were then offered to all St. Laurence students. Later an elective leadership course was added to the curriculum, Leadership Week became part of the school calendar and St. Laurence became involved in other opportunities such as the Northern Illinois Leadership Seminar and the ACTION leadership workshop. In 2006, the Christian Brothers turned over their former residence to the school, which was converted and remodeled into the Leadership Center providing an outstanding facility to house the expanded leadership program.
St. Laurence also began training both grammar schools and high schools in leadership skills, sharing the knowledge and skills that it had developed among its own students thus making St. Laurence truly the school “Where Leadership Begins”.
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Jeff Clemens ’00 recently joined St. Laurence as the new Director of Leadership. Mark Scott has been the Director of Leadership since the program’s inception, shaping the program to become part of the school. Mark’s leadership in this position has paved the way and left a legacy for Jeff, who looks forward to building on this tradition. “I want our students to leave St. Laurence with the essence of what leadership comes down to: speaking up, standing up or acting upon something in which you believe,” said Clemens.
