Schools

Oswego Students Learn to Be Leaders

Patch will follow two Oswego High School students through SLIP (Student Leadership Initiative Program) over the next five months, as they take on challenges and learn who they are and how they can be leaders.

High school is a time when memories are made. But for some and students, the most memorable moments of their school year probably won’t happen in the classroom, or on an athletic field.

They’re more likely to happen while they’re following clues to find food at the Kendall County Forest Preserve, or walking around downtown Aurora on a scavenger hunt, or designing a service project to help others. And along the way, those students will learn to be more confident, and become better leaders.

That’s the goal of the Student Leadership Initiative Program, or SLIP. An outgrowth of the Kendall County Outdoor Education Center, it was started in 1994 by then-director Jeff Schafermeyer, before he went on to become principal of .

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Deanna Bazan took over as director in 2001, and she now runs the SLIP program. She’s seen students come through the year-long experience transformed, armed with the self-confidence and skill to get things done.

“The biggest thing they learn about is how to work with other people they don’t necessarily know,” she said, adding that students get to experience a wealth of opinions and perspectives, and share their own.

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How does it work? Each SLIP class is made up of five sophomores from each participating high school. This year, there are four schools—Oswego High, Oswego East High, Plano High and Sandwich High—for a total of 20 participants.

Students apply to be in the program, and are then interviewed by their advisors, and by former SLIP students. Melissa Gleason, a counselor at Oswego East, said she doesn’t necessarily pick the leaders in each class—she nominates the “emerging leaders,” those who are often silent, but if given the right encouragement, could excel, she said.

If you’re chosen, you then get to go on monthly adventures designed by the SLIP team. The first is a team-building exercise at the Outdoor Education Center in Yorkville, in which students get to know each other, and design the SLIP t-shirt.

But the challenges get more interesting from there. This year, SLIP students found themselves in downtown Aurora on a scavenger hunt, armed with only two dollars each and a map. And they visited Schafermeyer at Boulder Hill, taking on the roles of teachers for a day.

Next week, SLIP students will engage in a service project, cleaning up Hoover Forest Preserve in Yorkville. In February, they’ll travel to the Morris Courthouse and shadow public officials as they go about their daily duties. In April, they’ll undergo a wilderness challenge at the Outdoor Education Center, relying on each others’ skills.

And the program culminates in May with a two-day event in which students “provide pioneer experiences for fifth graders,” according to the SLIP website.

And once they finish SLIP, they’re eligible for SLIP 2, which is open to juniors and seniors who have completed the first program. SLIP 2, Bazan said, began three years ago, and is dedicated to a volunteer project, in which students design everything from the ground up.

“In SLIP 1, the students show up, and the adults set everything up,” Bazan said. “In SLIP 2, they do it all themselves.”

It was created, she said, in response to complaints from students that the original SLIP was too short. The SLIP program costs about $1,500 a year to administer, Bazan said, and is paid through co-op funds from schools that are members of the Outdoor Education Center. (Oswego’s schools are not members, but the district pays for its students’ expenses.)

And it’s worth it, according to Gleason, who said she has seen significant changes in the students who have gone through the program. This year, Oswego East SLIP 2 students worked all summer to organize Frosh Fest, an August event for incoming freshmen, and it was a success, she said.

“I can’t tell you how proud I was. They go in being goofy teenagers, they’re shy,” Gleason said. “They establish their own leadership roles, and our kids rose to the challenge.”

Over the next five months, Patch will follow a pair of Oswego High School students as they experience SLIP challenges, and find out how the program is changing their lives. Here’s a brief introduction to the students we’ll be featuring

Daisy Cuevas

Ask Cuevas what she wants to be, and she’ll give you a host of possibilities: marine biologist, zoologist, factory owner, to name a few. Her options are open, she’ll tell you, and her list of activities is just as varied: she’s a member of the green-friendly Eagle Club, she plays on a traveling soccer team, and she volunteers for the American Cancer Society.

Cuevas’ biology teacher, Adam Glynn, nominated her for SLIP, and when she found out she had been selected, she said she was “jumping off the walls.” She describes herself as shy, and so was nervous to attend the first SLIP experience, but she said the team-building exercises taught her to open herself up more, and not worry what others will think of her.

She was more comfortable taking on the second challenge, in downtown Aurora. Her family lives there, and she speaks fluent Spanish, so she was able to help her teammates talk to people they needed to. (“I said, I have this,” she smiled.) She also said this challenge helped her learn when to let others take charge.

And her time at Boulder Hill Elementary cemented her belief that teaching isn’t for her. The experience taught her to be more patient, she said, but it was “outside my comfort zone completely.” Cuevas said she hopes to go through SLIP 2 when she’s done with this year, and is hoping for more experiences that will push her in new directions.

Jakob Pasdertz

There’s only one desired career on Pasdertz’ list: airline pilot. He doesn’t like to stay in one place, he said, and pilots get to go everywhere and see everything.

Pasdertz, tall and affable, radiates that sense of adventure and curiosity, which makes SLIP a good fit for him. He’s the kind of student who plays volleyball, but also has a spot on the chess team. His science teachers nominated him for the program, he said, and he described the interview process as “like a job application, but more serious.”

That first team-building exercise, he said, was like “the first day of school on steroids.” He said the democratic process of designing the SLIP t-shirt helped teach him the qualities of a good leader, and without those qualities, things descend into chaos quickly, he said. Some on the team are “more passive leaders – their ideas are good, but they don’t voice them loudly.”

Pasdertz was on the winning team for the challenge in Aurora, and he said the secret was advance planning. (“We came back first, but we left last,” he said.) He was chosen to give a speech about how his team won, and he said the experience taught him to work better with small groups of people.

Pasdertz as well would like to continue on with SLIP 2, and he said he’s made friends through this program that he may not have met otherwise.

Check back with Patch next week for an article on the next SLIP challenge, set for Jan. 17. 


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