Throughout the week of June 24th I had the privilege of interacting with 75 students in the state of Georgia which represent some of the finest leaders in the state’s high schools. “Leadership Unplugged: A CNN Experience is a 21st Century Leaders Program for high school Juniors and Seniors in partnership with CNN.” This program is identified as Leadership Unplugged, a CNN Experience through 21st Century Leaders. After a rigurous interview process in May, all of us anxiously awaited for a letter in the mail that would notify us of whether or not we were accepted into this prestigous program.

Myself, 2 others that I [as a group] interviewed with and 72 others were accepted into this program. We were later told that for each of us there were about 3 students [3×75=225]. As for a daily rundown, we arrived at the camp on Sunday and stayed in dorms located at the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology [Georgia Tech].

The rest of our leadership experience is as follows:

• Sunday, First Day: Check-In, Orientation, Team Building Activities, Sharpening the Saw
• Monday, Day 2: CNN 101, Final Project Intoduction, Making The Pitch, CNN Platform Tour, CNN Studio Tour, College 101, Recreation, Sharpening the Saw
• Tuesday, Day 3: Newsgathering, User Generated Content, Networking Lunch, Show Production, Leadership Challenge, Sharpening the Saw
• Wednesday, Day 4: Ethics- Tough Decisions, Diversity Workshop, Leadership Dinner Prep, Meet and Greet, Leadership Dinner, Salsa Dance & Party, Sharpening the Saw
• Thursday, Day 5: Marketing- PR- Viewer Communications Management, Recreation, Project Work, Sharpening the Saw
• Friday, Final Day: Leadership Challenge Project Presentations, Program Evaluation, Leadership Celebration, Check-Out

Starting Monday, our Moderator was the amazing Carl Azuz. Throughout the week he kept us laughing which never allowed as a dull moment. Since I am the Public Relations Director and an Administrator here at Techtronica my favorite day was Thursday. That day featured individuals in high positions in both Marketing and PR as listed above. These people include: Dan Brown, Lauren Cone, Anya Johnson, Bridget Leininger and Debbi Wynn. It was great to see executives and others that hold high positions appear in our panels and take time out of their busy days to come and educate us and answer our questions.

Friday seemed to go by the fastest because of the busy atmosphere and non-stop till check-out. As a (High-Spirit) Georgia Tech fan I hated leaving campus for many reasons. My largest reason was my view of the stadium [seen below]. To end the week event we hosted our final meeting at the Georgia Tech Student Center Ballroom in which thanks were given to Carl Azuz, Donna Krache, and other CNN Staff that had a major part in individuals being able to attend the program and for the program to be such a success. I personally recommend this program to any person that feels they could potentially influence others around them or those who do so and would like to better their leadership skills. Learn more at http://21stcenturyleaders.org/

 

[Stay tuned later for more with myself and Carl Azuz]