Superintendent's Leadership Program → About the Program

About the Program

The Superintendent’s Leadership Program is the only humanities-oriented honors leadership and career development program in the county.  The curriculum content and style are comparable to many college courses.  The students who participate in their year are competitively selected for demonstrating outstanding leadership, academic excellence, and uncommon maturity within their schools and communities. 

Red Cross intern

Students accepted to the program participate in a 15-hour per week internship under the guidance of a management executive.  Students discuss challenges, opportunities, and decision-making skills in the workplace through assignments as well as in the weekly seminars.  Seminars are designed to open participants to personal growth in ways that would be impossible to duplicate in a normal academic setting.  Participation in the program reveals facets of their chosen profession that would otherwise take years to experience. 

In an effort to ensure that each student does not spend their internship simply observing, the program provides students with an opportunity to take charge of their learning experience by developing a work plan and participating in a real-world project.  The projects are not simulated exercises but a project of real importance to the organization.  As part of the internship agreement, students present the result of their work to MCPS faculty and professionals in the industry to receive further feedback on their advancements.

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Student Testimonials

“I was taught valuable lessons about the workplace and...different ways to think and work. Being given the responsibility to work on projects and to complete them instills a great sense of accomplishment.”
- Roger Carman '04

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Students
Accomplisments

Rosanna Espinoza (Kennedy HS), Stephany Venero (Blake HS), and Fernando Saltiel (Walter Johnson High School) participated in a diversity panel at the MSDE Multicultural Committee. The panel, made up of staff member from each school district in the state wanted student’s perspectives.

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SIGNIFICANT PROGRAM COMPONENTS

  • Academic year internship provides assignments that are reflective of entry-level work performed by college graduates.
  • Field trips offer the chance to meet and talk with industry executives and community leaders.
  • Didactic seminars are facilitated by faculty, business executives, government officials and community leaders.  During the seminars, students learn about current issues and challenges facing businesses, professionals and various industries.
  • Research and writing assignments reinforce the work experience and seminar topics.  Assignments include a thesis, industry briefs, and team writing assignments.
  • Community service teams conduct six-month long service projects in the county.  This activity expands the sense of citizenship while learning to operate within a team that requires consensus, decision-making and motivation.
  • Projects that require cross-cultural understanding and the role of global society are incorporated each year. 

           
Interns are articulate, persuasive and emerging leaders in the community.  Most importantly, they exhibit a unique enthusiasm for independent learning.  The quality of the program provides opportunities not found elsewhere and the curriculum is comparable to an Advanced Placement course.  Reports from program graduates indicate the experiences gained from the program provided a distinct advantage as they began their college career.

 


Updated July 23, 2007 | Maintained by Web Services