Greetings!

 

Maryland Leadership Workshops delivers the premier peer-led leadership development experience for youth in Maryland.  But we can't do it alone. As a statewide program, we rely on you - those who know the program best from first-hand experience - to help us get the word out.  Think of the connections you have to students who may be interested in attending our week-long summer experience.  

 

Our rigorous staff training results in quality enrichment programs that provide students with the knowledge and skills to be effective and successful in school and beyond.  The 1:5 staff to student ratio ensures each student develops a unique and powerful action plan to take back home with them.  You know students who have attended (maybe even yourself!) and the energy and enthusiasm they bring back to schools and communities.   

 

Share this opportunity with principals, counselors, teachers, parents and students in your community. The Early Bird Deadline is fast approaching. Tell your friends, neighbors and relatives about the life transforming experience of an MLW Summer Program! Tell them to Apply today! 

 

At MLW, summer core programs are the center of what we do. Supporting these programs is a yearlong endeavor.  Whether it is our annual SAIL delegate reunion in January, ongoing work with the Maryland Association of Student Councils or the wide range of community outreach programs we conduct, all the efforts contribute to the success of our summer programs.  And this year's programs are going to be some of the best yet. Thanks for helping us to get the word out about this amazing opportunity.

Ilaya Hopkins

Executive Director

MLW Chair, Eliot Pfanstiehl

My friends,

This Spring we testified at House and Senate subcommittee hearings in Annapolis to explain the importance of the State Aided Education Institution grant we receive through the Maryland State Department of Education. The grant allows us to attract and support students from around the state, creates natural partners with other organizations, and helps us solicit more resources for MLW. For every $1 of state funding, we attract an additional $10.  I suggested to lawmakers that MLW is the farm team for the very positions they occupy! 

Thank you for all you continue to do to support our programs and reaching more students in Maryland. We are in recruitment season and appreciate you sharing your experiences with all those who will listen!  

Eliot Pfanstiehl

Chair, MLW Board of Directors

Community Outreach is a vital part of what we do, helping MLW reach more students around the State of Maryland. Read on to learn more. 

Community Outreach Director, Kori Jones

Maryland Leadership Workshops has been conducting Community Outreach Programs for many years. A Community Outreach Program is when MLW staff host a program in a facility in your area on topics in which you believe your group could benefit. We have served a variety of clients including local school systems, church groups, and other private organizations. Some of the topics include Group Interaction, Diversity, Communication Skills and Challenges, Choices, and Consequences, just to name a few. We tailor the schedule to meet the specific needs of your group of students- this may include time for team building activities, event planning, or action planning. We look forward to working with you students soon, and if you have any questions please feel free to contact the MLW office or me, Community Outreach Director, Kori Jones.

Journey 2012 

June 24 - 30 at Washington College in Chestertown, MD.

Journey is a weeklong residential program for Howard County girls entering 8th and 9th grade sponsored by the Women's Giving Circle of Howard County, an organization of women philanthropists dedicated to addressing the needs of women and girls in Howard County.  Since Journey began in 2006, more than 200 Howard County girls have completed the program.

Journey's 2012 Program Director is Candace Epps, an experienced MLW and Journey staff member.  Hammond High School Principal Marcy Leonard, Chair of the MLW Program Committee, serves as an advisor.

Journey program components include:

• Workshops on empowerment and motivation, communication, decision making skills, group dynamics, self-awareness, goal setting, and conflict resolution
• Small and large group projects for girls to apply and get feedback on their leadership and interpersonal skills
• One-on-one interactions between staff and girls to address specific areas of growth for the individual and identify an action plan for post-site implementation
• Recreational activities and team building games, including a Confidence Course

The 2012 program will serve 25 girls, and every effort will be made to include girls from all four corners of the county. Applicants should have some previous experience in leading her peers, a willingness to try new experiences in a safe environment, and a desire to serve her community.

Requests for financial aid should be mailed by March 17, 2012.  The application deadline is March 31, 2012. For more information, click on the link above or contact office@mlw.org.

Journey Participants and Staff 2011

MASC

Throughout the year, MLW participates in the various events organized by the Maryland Association of Student Councils. Here, student leaders help educate and inspire their peers to be leaders in their own schools.  Among the responsibilities of the MASC are electing candidates to serve as the Student Member of the State Board of Education.  MASC elects two candidates and forwards those names to the Governor who ultimately appoints the individual.  At the end of March, MASC will host its annual convention and MLW will be there facilitating workshops and talking about our programs.  

MLW Ambassadors

Mary Alex and Luke

Farah Sheikh started at a new job at DoSomething.org - the largest youth powered social good organization in the country!  Almost every week, DoSomething.org launches a new national campaign that empowers teenagers to support social good causes in their communities. DoSomething.org believes in the power of teenagers and provides them with resources such as grants and training opportunities to get their own causes off the ground. It is the largest youth powered social good organization in the country. Farah has joined the team as a Campaigns Associate and will be leading a few of their efforts this year as the organization grows from 16 to 30 campaigns.  Way to go, Farah!

Kathryn Cohen is going to London this summer for an internship! Congrats and safe travels!

Kevin Tervala is going to graduate school!  This fall, Kevin will be starting Harvard University's Ph.D. program in African Studies, specifically concentrating his studies and research on modern and contemporary African art history. 

Joel Goodman (Director of The HUMOR Project, Inc. in Saratoga Springs, NY) continues to attribute his fun-of-a-kind and serendipitous career path to the incredible experiences he had as an MLW delegate and staff member for many years.  Some recent happenings: 

www.HumorProject.com/conference.  As he has done in the past, Joel is very glad to offer special discounts for MLW staff to attend this learning-chocked, laughter-charged, life-changing program.  Jest email him atJoel@HumorProject.com if you are interested.

MLW Class of 2023?

2011 SHW Director

Derryck Fletcher, and his wife, Alexius, welcomed their twin daughters, Kelsey Olivia 

and Katelyn Lauren, to

 the world on December 22, 2011. They came six weeks earlier than expected, but the babies were healthy and mom, who is ironically also a twin, was ready. Kelsey and Katelyn are pictured at their recent christening. 

Kim Gordy now works in undergraduate admissions at The George Washington University. Kim made the switch from Goucher in mid-October. And she will be looking to move from Baltimore toward DC in the spring if anyone has housing suggestions or opportunities, feel free to contact me at kbgwrites@gmail.com.  Kim also completed her first half-marathon!!!! Way to go!

photos

MLW alum and former counselor Ryan Gielen has just released his debut novel, Love Bomb and the Pink Platoon. The book follows the story of a military experiment that goes horribly wrong and turns an entire platoon gay. Love Bomb is a dark satire of the minds behind Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and a tribute to those who defeated it, written in the vein of Catch-22 or Dr. Strangelove. 

If you have information to share, please send it to Director of Alumni Lauren Lee at alumnistaff@mlw.org.

Jason Israel - Viking Teacher

1. Describe your history with MLW - delegate and staff, etc. and how did you get involved in the first place? 

2. What is one of your favorite MLW memories?

My most incredible staff memory is of a delegate in my group who didn't talk to anyone (even his roommates) for the first two days. He was from California but had been sent to live with his aunt in Maryland because his brother and other family members were involved in violent gang activity. Although he'd wanted to leave MLW immediately, we convinced him to try to stay at least until Tuesday.  Tuesday night in our group meeting, his fellow delegates urged him to open up. He shared his life's experience and confessed that he felt he would never be able to identify himself as anything else but a gang member, a "follower", like the other men in his family. There wasn't a dry eye in the room as we witnessed his rebirth as a leader. For the rest of the week, our group embraced him as he took on more and more leadership roles in group meetings and REALITY. It's not only my favorite story because of the result, but because the catalyst of the key turning point moment was not our staff team, but his fellow delegates. It reminds me that, as staff, our job is not to try to manufacture MLW MAGIC, but to subtly find ways for delegates to unlock it in themselves and each other.

3. What do you do for a living? 

I work at the Pentagon in the office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy helping to coordinate our national security policies, strategies and budgets between numerous government agencies. I was in the active duty Navy as a submarine officer for about ten years, but have recently shifted the reserves. So this is my first "civilian" job. Sometimes it feels like one big, ongoing REALITY project!

4. How does MLW help you in your everyday life?

First and foremost, to reiterate a famous quote (attributed to many), "I am standing on the shoulders of giants." The amazing and inspiring on-the-strength members of the MLW family who have over the years given me their energy, wisdom, and MLW LOVE frequently run through my mind when I'm faced with a challenge in leadership (or life in general). And, besides the practical nature of workshops that perpetually come in handy  (SMART Goals, PPIE, The Art of Facilitation, Motivation & Empowerment, the list goes on...), the overall message of MLW that the potential lies in everyone to successfully lead (and follow when appropriate) is a powerful perspective to carry with you everyday.

5. Do you have any advice for MLW delegates and/or staff members? 

Well, it's truly a daunting task to attempt to advise such a group... but the one thing that I'd like to share from my experience is that MLW MAGIC is not confined to Chestertown... or even Maryland for that matter. Over the last 10 years, wherever I've lived... Seattle, Italy, Washington DC, New York, Boston, and now Baltimore... I've volunteered to run workshops in local schools that are based on our model and have seen it work in those venues in many ways. But, the real MLW-esque impact can even be found outside of the classroom... remembering that leadership and public service can found at the most local level through our daily interactions. For me, it's been spending time with a nervous classmate as she prepares to moderate a panel discussion, coaching a colleague from China before he teaches at a US high school, mentoring a recent service academy graduate over lunch about careers in military intelligence, or just taking a colleague out of the office for an hour to chat when it was clear from her face that something was wrong. Making time for these things is how we can have a little bit of MLW everyday.

ALS and MSEL

July 15 - July 21

SHW

July 22 - July 28

Quick Links

Important Dates

March 22, 2012

Information Session for 

Youth Leadership Montgomery

March 31, 2012

Journey Applications Due

April 20, 2012

Board of Directors Meeting

May 1, 2012

MSEL and SHW

Early Bird Tuition deadline

(complete delegate applications must be postmarked by May 1 for the Early Bird rate)

July 15-July 21, 2012

ALS and MSEL on site

July 22 - July 28, 2012

SHW on site

Executive Committee

Eliot Pfanstiehl,

Chair

President and CEO, Strathmore Hall

Sean M. Looney,

Vice Chair

Vice President, State Government Affairs, Comcast

Katherine Getty, Treasurer

Managing Director, Susquehanna Bank

Kim Coble,

Secretary

MD Exec Dir, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc.

Marcy Leonard,

Chair, Program Committee

Principal, Howard County Public Schools

Ilaya R. Hopkins

Executive Director

Board of Directors

John Cammack

Commack and Associates

Lloyd Etheredge

Project Director, Policy Sciences Center

Nancy Grasmick

State Superintendent (retired)

MD State Dept of Education

Holly B. Huntley

Vice President, Human Resources, CSC

Thomas Jarboe

COO, Technology Security Associates

Rose Krasnow

Division Chief, M-NCPPC

Nancy Minieri

President, Leadership Maryland

Ann Misback

Alumna

Betty Morgan

Executive Director Grad Nation

America's Promise Alliance

Wilson H. Parran

Asst Sec - Mission Support, MD DNR

Skipp Sanders

Lecturer, Morgan State University

Susan C. Simmons

Director, Caroline County Recreation & Parks

Cathleen Vitale

Delegate, Maryland House of Delegates

Betty Weller

VP, Maryland State Education Association

Amanda Werrell

Student