New Partnership Offers Invaluable Leadership Development Program to Students

Forest Hills School District is partnering with the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce to offer a brand-new, comprehensive leadership development program for 10th grade students at Anderson and Turpin High Schools. The Aspire Youth Discovery Initiative is a monthly learning series that is designed to expand students’ self-awareness, employability skills and leadership potential.

FHSD and the Anderson Area Chamber worked closely to develop an in-depth, year-long itinerary for the Aspire Youth Discovery Initiative. This leadership program for select FHSD sophomores will be held once monthly during the school day in what organizers are calling “community classrooms.” Each session will be held at a different business or organization and led by community leaders on a variety of topics.

“We are so fortunate to be able to offer this opportunity to students as a way for them to expand their horizons and develop invaluable professional skills,” said FHSD Community Partnership Specialist Melanie Hartong. “Our students already benefit from the district’s partnership with the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce in a number of ways, and we appreciate their commitment to expanding opportunities for students.”

The program accepted 20 students for the initial class, but offered all students who applied a chance to take a career skills assessment. This assessment is meant to help students learn more about their own interests and how they might translate into potential careers.

“It is so important to increase opportunities like these for our students,” FHSD Superintendent Larry Hook said. “Our role as educators is to empower each student to achieve personal success every day. Leadership development programs like this and countless other courses, clubs or teams serve as a way to ensure every single Forest Hills student is prepared to make a positive impact after graduation.”

In addition to the monthly lessons, students will have an opportunity to grow their professional network and build awareness about the resources that exist within the Anderson Township and Greater Cincinnati communities. Each monthly session will focus on a topic such as communication, problem solving, collaboration, financial literacy, career counseling and more. The goal of each monthly session is to increase students’ knowledge and expose them to issues and resources surrounding the topic in an interactive and innovative manner. Aspire will include a service learning/capstone project of the students’ choosing. This project will be inspired by the programming they have received and will benefit the community.