Professional Leadership Skills Certificate Workshop

The Youth Leadership Certificate Program

My internship was with the University of Illinois Extension serving Bureau, LaSalle, Marshall, and Putnam Counties.  As the summer intern, my main project was to create the "Youth Leadership Certificate Program" which was developed to fill the need that many high school students have when thinking about career development.  It was my responsiblity to create a certificate program that will help prepare participants for entering the workforce through a series of development certificate workshops.  Upon completion of each certificate workshop participants will receive a certificate endorsed by the University of Illinois Extension exemplifying the work-related skills the participant has developed throughout the workshops.  

The first certificate available was the Professional Leadership Skills Certificate workshop which was offered on August 1st and 2nd for high school students ages 15-18.  It was a full, two-day workshop open to the public that was hosted at the Bureau County Extension Office in Princeton, IL from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. both days.  The workshop was a complete success having 13 participants receive their Professional Leadership Skills Certificate upon completion of the two-day workshop.  In order to insure the sessions were interesting and meaningful for the participants, five presenters from the University of Illinois Extension staff, including myself,  and one guest speaker Dennis Toth, Ace Hardware Warehouse Manager, shared their knowledge and expertise about the content area. 

Sessions Included:

• Real Colors Personality Inventory.
• Determined personality color temperament and incorporated their new self-awareness when making decisions and working in teams.
• Leadership.
• Explored the importance of leadership and worked to create a professional pitch to answer the question, “Can you tell me about yourself?”
• Professional Development.
• Defined professionalism and applied definition to the workplace through attire, communication, appropriate use of social media, and dining etiquette.
• Workforce Preparation.
• Created a resume and learned about the STAR Method for answering interviewing questions to prep for job applications.

Overall, the workshop was a complete success and the participants unanimously stated that they would recommend this workshop to their friends.  This was my ideal internship experience because I was able to apply all of the information I have learned throughout my Agricultural Leadership Education classes while planning a workshop of my own.  This experience was extremely beneficial and I have learned valuable information that helps when dealing with lesson plans and event planning.   

Responsibilities Included:

• Creating marketing materials 
• news releases, fliers, mailings, and personal recruitment phone calls.
• Writing workshop lesson plans 
• 3, 3-hour lesson plans tied to Illinois State Teaching Standards and Common Core standards.
• Coordinating presenters
• 4, University of Illinois Extension Staff and 1 guest presenter
• Planning a budget 
• workshop materials, lunches, and snacks.
• Evaluating workshop effectiveness
• Evaluation survey, informal discussion