Looks of awe and admiration light up the faces of the visitors as students show off their leadership skills and represent themselves. On March 27, 2025, Leadership Day was held in the Multi-purpose building on the Texas High campus and a district-wide showcase at the Texarkana Convention Center. This day showcased how the district as a whole and the clubs on each campus use and benefit from the 7 Habits and the Leader In Me program.
The Leadership Day convention allowed students to present an array of leader-adjacent qualities acquired from the programs Texas High has in place for the students.
“This convention gives students the opportunity to stand out and showcase not only their talents but also their communication skills,” assistant principal Dr. Jaquelyn Smith said. “They get to work and synergize together.”
Students within the Leader-In-Me club on campus agree with the promotional aspect of this convention and appreciate the opportunity to share their ideas with other districts.
“Leadership Day allows us to go and show other campuses how we implement leadership on our campus,” Senior Leader-In-Me member Jayden Manley said. “It gives us the opportunity to showcase our team building and bonding skills.”
Clubs across campus found the event beneficial to promoting their organizations’ missions and objectives.
“This day allows us to get the word out about our club and what we offer since we’re building from the ground up,” FFA vice president Thomas Facanti said. “We get to spread the word about our different benefits like getting scholarships or starting a career as a veterinarian.”
Staff members and superintendents traveled many miles to see and enjoy the showcase provided by an abundance of clubs and organizations, bringing home information and ideas for their own schools.
“There’s not a lot of camaraderie, ownership, or self-discipline,” Family and Consumer Science teacher at Cache High School in Cache, Oklahoma, said. “[We want to] make our school run like [Texas High School] is running. You guys are so well spoken, not just one or two people, but everyone as a whole school is amazing.”
Visiting districts that already implemented the Leader-In-Me curriculum are now receiving the benefits that come with the program and look at campuses, like Texas High, for further insight on how to expand their facilities.
“We are beginning our journey in Leader-In-Me,” Assistant Superintendent of Hallsville ISD Shawna Hiddle said. “We are definitely seeing positive impacts of Leader-In-Me in all of our schools.”
Different clubs stepped out to showcase how they implement leadership in their club or organization while inviting people to hear more information about their groups.
“We got to see very important people and were able to share what our intentions are for the club while showing them our vision,” Vice President of the Light Club Ayana Forman said. “I was mainly the social media coordinator, so I reached out a lot to get people to join, but now we showcase in other ways to spread the word about Jesus and be able to spread throughout schools.”
The primary takeaway from this event is that school districts across the nation should promote and encourage student leadership throughout their facilities and present opportunities, through Leader-In-Me, to enable this mindset.
“I want them to take home that student leadership is really supposed to be student leadership,” principal Ben Renner said. “I think that education should be us empowering students to take charge of their learning and then learn to do that through life.”
