Leadership Program

List of 3 items.

• Leadership Academy - Upper School

  The Leadership Program started in 2017 with the creation of the Upper School’s Leadership Academy.  During the summer of 2017, the School’s athletic department created a one-week leadership camp for a select group of High School Varsity athletes.  The camp was conducted just prior to the start of the school year and focused on building confident and resilient individuals into integral members of unified teams in order to develop a supportive O’Neal Culture of Excellence.    Since 2017, the Leadership Academy camp continues to ‘kick-off’ the academic year for the Leadership Program and now includes non-athletes.  Additionally, the Leadership Academy has evolved into a year-long program where students meet once a week throughout the school year, building upon what they learned at the camp and continuing to cultivate and refine their leadership competencies.  This is done through a variety of methods which include, but is not limited to; growing their Emotional Intelligence, community service projects and team building activities.  Once a year, Leadership Academy facilitators (Select Faculty and Staff members) nominate students for inclusion into the program for the following academic year.

• Courage League - Middle School

  The Middle School’s Courage League serves as a bridge from the Lower School’s Culture Council and the Upper School’s Leadership Academy.  The Courage League is comprised of students from 5^th through 8^th grades and works to amplify social emotional learning through engagement in critical conversations while exploring decision-making scenarios.  These critical conversations and decision-making scenarios serve crucial to elevating students’ awareness of how to navigate challenging social situations.  Through exploring their own set of personal core values and dissecting right vs. wrong, students gain valuable practice in principled decision-making which is fundamental to the character development process.  Students gain entry into the Courage League through a formal application process that also includes teacher recommendations.

• Culture Council - Lower School

  The Lower School’s Culture Council serves as the introductory piece of the Leadership Program and is comprised of students from the 4^th grade.  The Culture Council teaches students the concept of “One O’Neal”, which exemplifies and reinforces the philosophy of collaboration between teachers, staff, administration, classmates, peers, friends, parents.  This ‘whole school community’ approach seeks to build a strong sense of unity and a strong foundation of positive culture at The O’Neal School.  Students are introduced to the the FALCONS acronym; Fairness Accountability Leadership Cooperation Ownership Nurture Self-discipline.  These principles serve as a starting point for Culture Council discussions and activities which allow students to explore and discover their own personal set of core values.  Students are allowed to apply for the Culture Council at the beginning of the second semester.