Youth Leadership Nass-au held Life Skills and Graduation Day March 13.
The future leaders include sophomores and juniors from high schools throughout Nassau County. They learned how to present themselves on a job application and in an interview with help from UF/IFAS Extension agents. They learned how to balance a budget from VyStar Credit Union presenters. With the help of VyStar and other volunteers, students also participated in the “On My Own” reality fair in which they were given a real-life situation and had to go from booth to booth to provide for themselves and their fictional families financially.
The day concluded with the graduation of the 2017-18 Youth Leadership Nassau class, including 17 students and six peer mentors. The graduating students gave presentations to their peers and families about the group projects they completed as a part of YLN. The projects were aimed toward making a positive impact in the county. They ranged from volunteering with senior citizens and teaching leadership skills to kindergarteners to forming a political club and gathering donations for families in need.
This program was the last of six day sessions of this year’s YLN program. Throughout the program, the students had the chance to travel around Nassau County and talk to leaders in many different aspects of life, including judges, school board members, county commissioners and entrepreneurs. Each day, the students reflected on the qualities of being a true leader in their community. Applications for the next year of the program will be distributed in August.
Youth Leadership Nass-au is part of the Nassau County 4-H program. For more information, call 904-530-6353.