Local Leaders, Tomorrow's Heroes

Theme: Heroes

Grade: 7-9

Introduction

Many revered national heroes, Nobel Prize winners, and other admired leaders started on their path to fame in their own backyards, by looking at what was happening around them and deciding to tackle an issue or help solve a problem they saw there, or by following a path that started with small successes which grew bigger and gained larger audiences. By taking a leadership role in your own community, you can take a step on the path toward becoming tomorrow’s hero.

Task

As part of an International Community Improvement Expo, your community has selected your team to examine problems in your school and community and suggest a plan to correct these problems. As a part of your work, you will need to contact key role players like officials, community leaders, teachers and respected members of your community who can help you determine what problems your community and school is experiencing now, and what challenges they may face in the coming years. After identifying several issues and considering the information you receive, you will select the one issue that you think is most important. Then you will develop an action plan that outlines how this problem can be solved within the next three years.

Your team must accomplish the following tasks to complete this assignment:

1. Investigate current and developing problems in your school and community.
2. Get input from key role players to help you determine what the most important problems are.
3. Identify the problem you want to solve.
4. Clearly state the problem and the issues that surround it.
5. Develop an action plan that shows how this problem can be solved in the next three years or less.
6. Provide descriptions of the types of leaders who will be needed to solve this problem and develop job descriptions for these leadership positions.
7. Estimate costs for the project.
8. Design a multimedia presentation for community leaders that highlights your ideas and recommendations.

Process

For this assignment, you will work in teams of four and you will divide your task into roles as follows (click on each role for more information):

1. Researcher
2. Strategist
3. Public Relations Officer
4. Accountant

Resources

Assessment

Conclusion

By completing this activity you and your team will have become deeply involved in a real life community issue. The proof of this activity's value will depend on whether you remain involved with the issue or just forget about it after this project. The decision is yours.