Leadership
{American Youth Foundation} National Leadership Conference
The AYF’s longest running program, the National Leadership Conference (NLC) creates confident leaders equipped to make a positive impact on our ever-changing world. Held annually at Miniwanca in Shelby, Michigan, this 8-day conference brings together high school and college students from diverse backgrounds, providing them with the opportunity to develop, practice and implement leadership skills that will play an essential role throughout the rest of their lives. The conference’s highly committed and experienced staff guides participants as they explore what it means to live at their very best, offering healthy challenges in a supportive and nurturing environment. NLC operates on a four-year curriculum. Every first-year member is placed in a class that will stay together each year until conference graduation, ensuring that no matter where they are from, every participant will have a place in this diverse and vibrant community.
💰 Scholarships Available
{Barnard College} Athena Summer Innovation Institute
We believe in the power of women to change the world. The Athena Summer Innovation Institute is an intensive, 10-day boot camp that provides young women with the practical skills and knowledge they need to develop new ideas that will make a difference in the world. Students will work in teams to create a new venture — start-up businesses, non-profit organizations, or advocacy campaigns — that have the power to disrupt traditional ways of doing things and create lasting change.
{Barnard College} Young Women's Leadership Institute
The Young Women's Leadership Institute takes the complex relationship between gender and leadership as its focus. Young Women's Leadership Institute participants should be curious, passionate, and willing to take risks. The Young Women's Leadership Institute will allow you to develop those qualities and push you in new directions as you explore leadership through a feminist lens. You will have a unique opportunity to learn from college faculty and staff, current students, alumnae, and other professional facilitators. Reading and writing assignments, along with off-campus site visits in New York City, will all be part of your experience. Leadership Institute students will meet with women in their workplaces. These sessions introduce you to different fields and the education or professional training they require.
{Baruch College} Baruch Leadership Academy
The Baruch Leadership Academy takes place at Baruch College, a thriving, internationally ranked institution, located in the heart of New York City, midtown Manhattan. Leadership Academy students experience college as they have access to Baruch College’s state-of-the-art campus including the college’s library system. The Leadership Academy takes students on relevant field trips throughout New York City, allowing them to explore New York City, their career field of choice, and meet with successful industry insiders. Students at the Leadership Academy are able to experience the unique culture and customs of New York City, an international hub for finance, fashion, business, and the arts.
{Brown University} Brown Leadership Institute
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the problems facing our global community. At this moment youth like you from all over the world are contemplating their futures with a mix of excitement and skepticism, pondering what role they can have in building the world they want to live in. The Brown Leadership Institute believes that young people are already making powerful contributions to their communities and, through participation in this program, no matter your current level of engagement, you can increase your ability to advance social justice. To prepare young people to create positive change, this innovative program integrates three foundational components: study of a compelling academic topic, exploration of socially responsible leadership, and development of a meaningful action plan.
💰 Scholarships Available
{Leadership Columbus} Central Ohio Leadership Academy
The Central Ohio Leadership Academy (COLA) is a high-impact, year-round leadership development experience designed for rising high school junior and senior student leaders throughout Central Ohio. The objective of COLA is to create life-changing experiences for our community’s young leaders, develop their leadership skills, and enable them to work with others, lead with purpose, and make positive changes in their schools and communities.
Formerly a standalone program, COLA was adopted into the Leadership Columbus family of programs in 2021. Since its founding in 2011 by the New Albany Community Foundation in collaboration with The Ohio State University, COLA has impacted the lives of more than 350 students from 86 different high schools throughout central Ohio.
The experience provides a unique participatory experience that cultivates leadership, ethical decision-making, self-reflection and relationship building among the participants. Student learning is guided by an instructional collaborative that includes trained facilitators, educators from the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University, as well as community leaders from across Central Ohio.
{College Essay Guy} Uncommon Summer
Have a cool idea for a project but just need some inspiration and tools to help you get it off the ground? Or maybe you want to stay engaged, creative, and productive this summer but just don't know where to start. Introducing "Uncommon Summer" - a 4-week mini-course for helping students develop their leadership capacities, then brainstorm and potentially launch a self-directed project.
{Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill} Girls' Leadership Worldwide
If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind experience to discover your passions, build the confidence to take on your dreams, develop your voice, and unwrap a world of leadership potential, then Girls’ Leadership Worldwide (GLW) is for you! Each summer, girls from across the country and around the globe are brought together for a unique nine-day leadership program inspired by the life lessons and leadership legacy of First Lady of the World Eleanor Roosevelt. Over the course of the program, girls experience interactive workshops, participate in field trips, visit career sites, network with and learn from accomplished female leaders, and gain a new perspective on leadership–all while building an international community of peers and lasting bonds of sisterhood. Girls emerge from GLW transformed and re-energized, ready to be the compassionate, socially-conscious and fearless leaders of a new tomorrow.
💰 Scholarships Available
{George Washington University} Caminos al Futuro
Caminos al Futuro is a fully-funded summer scholarship program that engages high-achieving juniors (rising seniors) from U.S. high schools in a residential academic leadership development program at the George Washington University. This program is part of the Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute sponsored by GW alumnus Gilbert Cisneros and his wife, Jacki. This program seeks to cultivate leadership potential and scholarship in rising seniors who desire to shape issues impacting Hispanic and Latinx communities. Caminos al Futuro scholars will get a chance to examine the political, economic and social transformations impacting Hispanic and Latinx communities nationwide by: Conducting research, content, and media analyses; Engaging in collaborative projects; Engaging with leaders who help Hispanic and Latinx communities in the United States; Attending site visits and performing community service.
HOBY World Leadership Conference
HOBY’s World Leadership Congress (WLC) brings together over 400 students from across the United States and around the world for a week of inspiration, discovery and fun. You’ll leave feeling empowered, with the tools and support you need to reach your goals and be an active global citizen.
{Hotchkiss School} Summer Portal: Student Leadership Institute
The Hotchkiss Student Leadership Institute is a two-week program designed to develop student leaders who can come up with creative solutions to complex problems, strengthen their communities, build effective teams, and positively influence those around them. Supported by insightful, experienced faculty, participants explore their own leadership style, examine different leadership strategies, and practice applying them in real-world situations. By the end of the course, students will develop a plan to address an issue in their home community using skills they’ve developed through the program.
{Junior State of America} Young Women's Leadership Institute
On the heels of 2018, a historic year for women in politics and leadership, JSA launched its Young Women’s Leadership Institute. By engaging young women with a passion for politics and public life, we aim to support the emergence of a new generation of leaders in a variety of fields, with a specific focus on the opportunities and challenges that arise for women, as well as the value of building a supportive network of peers.
{LEAP Foundation} LEAPweek
Our highly immersive week-long leadership program for high school and college students is held annually at the UCLA campus in Los Angeles, California. Each year, 400 students from over 40 countries around the globe travel to attend LEAPweek, a full week dedicated to helping young adults uncover the “real-life” skills needed to achieve great success.
💰 Scholarships Available
{National Student Leadership Conference} Mastering Leadership
Unleash your inner potential and create the time of your life at the NSLC on Mastering Leadership. At the NSLC on Mastering Leadership, you’ll gain a better understanding of who you are and what you have to offer, no matter what career path you choose. You and your team of peers will explore your strengths and talents as you unleash your natural leadership abilities.
{National Student Leadership Conference} Social Impact & Innovation
Make a difference in your world at the NSLC on Social Impact & Innovation. Do you aspire to be an agent for change in your community? Are you passionate about social issues and eager to make an impact on the world? At the NSLC on Social Impact & Innovation you will learn about the different types of organizations that make a social impact and participate in a team simulation where you will create your own socially minded organization.
{Ohio Association of Student Leaders} Summer Leadership Workshop
Since its founding in 1953, OASL has been offering leadership development programming to students across the state of Ohio. As our mission states, we are “dedicated to the teaching of leadership skills, organizational skills, and people skills valuable to the members and officers of all student organizations.” OASL empowers students to discover their passion and develop their capacity for leadership for one common goal: to create positive change in our Ohio schools & communities.
For the past 69 summers, Summer Workshop has been OASL’s signature and premier experience, described by many as life-changing and the highlight of their summer. Through experiential learning activities, this 5 day, 4 night summer camp experience helps students develop personal and group leadership skills, set and achieve worthy goals, pursue challenges, and take ownership for responsibilities. Following summer workshops, students return to their schools & communities with knowledge, conviction, and understanding which will empower them to positively impact all they encounter.
💰 Scholarships Available
{Ohio State University} Buckeye Student Leadership Academy
Do you want to learn more about the expectations of college life and discover your leadership style? Then Ohio State's Buckeye Student Leadership Academy might be for you! BSLA is a special summer program for rising Ohio high school seniors who are high achieving, first-generation, rural and/or underrepresented minority students. Students apply for the program in their junior year. The program gives participants the opportunity to learn more about themselves and others, and how to make the college experience work for them. They will learn about resources that support their success and consider how their leadership style can positively contribute to their college experience.
{Phillips Exeter Academy} Hamm Leadership Academy
This special UPPER SCHOOL program is open to rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. Admission to the program is limited and selective. In the Leadership Program you will be immersed in a learning environment designed to foster opportunities to reflect upon the characteristics and contexts that enable effective leadership. Towards this end, the program will incorporate traditional academic coursework as well as workshops, speakers, case studies, and group projects that will encourage you to discover and cultivate your own leadership potential both on the Exeter campus and within the surrounding communities.
{Susquehanna University} Leap: Leadership 101
Jump start your college experience at Leap: Leadership 101. Spend the week living on a college campus with other high school leaders from around the country, preparing for college-level leadership. Through use of the social change model, you’ll participate in indoor and outdoor leadership highlighted by service and social activities to discover strengths, leadership style, ability to manage conflict and more. This model focuses on enacting positive change within your community through understanding of yourself and the role you play in the greater community. You’ll gain hands-on experience by participating in a small group case study to demonstrate your individual and collective leadership skills.
{The Experiment in International Living} The Experiment Leadership Institute
The Experiment Leadership Institute offers two highly competitive, fully funded programs for participants with demonstrated interest in intercultural leadership, global issues, and civic engagement. The Experiment Leadership Institute offers six-week programs in South Africa and India, specifically focused on leadership development. These programs foster discussion on critical global issues such as worldwide health, human rights, and social change. The Experiment Leadership Institute promotes understanding of these and other global issues, and provides participants with an opportunity to see what communities are doing to address these challenges.
💰 Scholarships Available
{Tufts University} Intensive: Leadership for Social Change
Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life Leadership for Social Change Pre-College Intensive is providing a virtual program this summer in response to the global pandemic. Using a variety of digital platforms to highlight societies’ mutual interdependence and interconnectedness, the engaging two-week program will be a way to unite students across the world and equip them with change-making skills, resiliency strategies, and civic knowledge to build connections, to work collaboratively, and to emerge as change agents who can inspire others. Leadership for Social Change (LSC) is a credit-bearing program that will introduce rising high school sophomores-seniors to the myriad ways social change and civic leaders respond to ruptures in society, with the focal point this year being the systemic disturbances stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. These issues will include public policy, political science, environmental studies, community health, leadership, and social entrepreneurship. The objective of the program will be to equip students with the skills and knowledge to lead and emerge as change agents capable of navigating societal challenges. This program was created to offer students the opportunity to deeply reflect and question the many ways society has changed as a result of the ongoing pandemic. The virtual edition of the program will also provide opportunities for students to identify the many ways the concept of community has changed and evolved due to physical distancing. The virtual version of the program will implement an even more focal student approach and structure to tap into human-centered values of the power of community and support students in identifying and further developing their unique talents through project-based learning.
💰 Scholarships Available
{University of Dayton} Leadership 101
During this two-week, residential learning experience, you'll gain an understanding of the foundations of leadership, assess your leadership behaviors to determine your preferred leadership style, discover the five practices of exemplary leadership, and create a personal leadership development plan. This highly interactive session includes extensive discussion and collaborative exchange of ideas, leadership assessments, class and individual exercises, guest speakers and site visits. You will learn how to improve leadership skills, how to develop, lead, participate on highly effective teams, and examine how critical skills such as communication, time management, decision-making, and conflict resolution impact leadership and your ability to lead others.
{Wake Forest University} Summer Immersion: Leadership Institute
The Leadership Institute offers students an outlet for enhancing their ability to inspire and influence people in reaching a collective goal before they begin their collegiate careers. Personal growth, exploration and reflection promote students who will be prepared to make a difference in their communities and create positive change in the world.
💰 Scholarships Available
{World Challenge} Leadership Development Expeditions
A World Challenge expedition gives young people real life experiences, creating a space to reflect and develop in unique ways. Each student has to step up into leadership, they each have to play their part in the team. Together they celebrate their successes and learn through their mistakes.
{YWCA Columbus} Bright Futures Leadership Program
For nearly 20 years, Bright Futures Leadership Program has been building the leadership skills of high school juniors who show incredible promise. Nominated by principals or guidance counselors at more than 70 Central Ohio high schools, these girls are the Women of Achievement of tomorrow. On ten Saturdays from January to June, Bright Futures participants gather for workshop sessions including (but not limited to) social justice advocacy, leadership development, positive self-image, college preparation and social media safety. These workshops are facilitated by a host of women leaders, all experts in their fields. Participants will also participate in community service projects and attend the Women of Achievement Luncheon, where we gather to honor a select group of Columbus women who have made extraordinary contributions to their families, workplaces, and communities. The program will conclude with a graduation ceremony.