Homer-Center high school leadership programs have partnered with Chick-Fil-A to help get students involved in leadership roles to prepare for life after high school. There are 29 students involved in this program. The students in the program are seniors, juniors, and a select few sophomores who were nominated by the teachers at the high school. After the 2023-2024 school year there will be an application process that the students have to go through to be selected. The group has two faculty advisors, Mrs. Courtney Scherf and Mrs. Christine Yurky.

 “Students take part in Leader Labs, where they learn leadership principles and begin working toward their Capstone Impact Project.” said Courtney Scherf, one of the coordinators of the Leader Academy. A capstone project is,“an opportunity to put their classroom learning into practice by creating positive change in their communities” explained Scherf.The program's motto is “Impact through Action.” Students in the program have already taken action this fall by participating in the service project, “The Million Books GiveAway.” For this service project they were able to give five books to every student in kindergarten, first, and second grade at the Homer-Center Elementary School. When the students went to deliver the books they also read some of the books to the kids. Scherf shared her goal for this program, “We want to promote strong student leaders who are willing to serve others not because teachers tell them to do so, but because it comes from within and they want to make their school and communities a better place.”

The students collectively nominated one student to be their student ambassador. They chose Chevelle Kenney, a senior this year. When Kenney was asked how she felt about assuming this role she responded with, “I felt so honored. I feel seen, as I’ve been doing so many things behind camera, and I don’t like to be showy about my service.” The student ambassador’s role is to spread information on social media about the different service projects that the program does. For this group Kenney hopes to clean up the courtyard at the elementary school and,  “Along with this, cleaning up our outdoor classroom for the high school would benefit our older kids in the same way.”

For the next meeting and the meetings to come the group watches interactive videos to learn ways to be a good leader. For the students’ next “Leader Lab” they will be discussing how they felt about the previous service projects and the projects to come. Their next service project is “Do Good December.” The purpose of this project is to make a difference in people's lives during the holiday season.