Maplewood Student Attains Top Leadership Post at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark

Sheridan Yearns, of Maplewood, N.J., has been named Senior Group Leader of the girls division at St. Benedict's Preparatory School. Senior Group Leader is the top leadership post a student can attain at the K-12 Catholic school, where students, not administrators, run the day-to-day operations.

Senior Group Leaders sit at the top of a schoolwide leadership structure in which students hold real authority over their peers: mentoring underclassmen, enforcing conduct standards and running signature programs such as the Freshman Overnight, an immersive, weeklong experience of community building and challenges for first-year students.

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Yearns heads a senior leadership team of 11 young women and is responsible for a growing Girls Prep Division of 200 students. She started at St. Benedict's as a seventh grader in the Middle Division. Her first leadership position came that same year when she became an Assistant Group Leader. She went on to serve as a Group Leader, Freshman Counselor and Assistant Group Leader before being selected as Senior Group Leader.

"I love helping people and showing that I can inspire others just by being myself," Yearns said. "That was the start of my leadership journey at St. Benedict's."

As Senior Group Leader, she hopes to strengthen connections among students across grade levels and build on the sense of community that has shaped her own experience at St. Benedict's.

About St. Benedict's Preparatory School

Guided by the Benedictine monks of Newark Abbey since 1868, St. Benedict's Prep is a model in urban education known for its student leadership, counseling program, experiential learning and community. Serving nearly 1,000 students in K-12 from in and around Newark, the School was featured on "60 Minutes" and in The New York Times. To learn more, visit sbp.org.