By Anna Melis

There are quite a few students at TPA who lead not only in Humane Letters class but also in Tempe Youth Leadership. Tempe Youth Leadership is an organization that is training the leaders of the future.

They have “interactive issue days” where community leaders in the realms of arts, fire, public safety, social services, business, and government come and answer questions. Another thing to look forward to, if eligible to apply, are the activities that aid with team building, a bona fide skill for leadership.

TPA is recognized by a plethora of students as a school that has highlighted their own leadership skills so, why not showcase that and help the community? In tenth grade there are five students participating in this organization: Sam Goodykoontz, Bree Van Dahm, Hannah Matsumoto, Brooke Kirk, and Hayden Sampson.

Though this year all of our school’s representatives are sophomores, this program is open to juniors as well. As Sam explains, the application process is easy though tedious. One simply fills out an application then sends it in and if the directors like the application then you are accepted!

After, if you are chosen, you go to an orientation and get to know everyone. Once the program has selected the students, they have bimonthly meetings. These meetings can have a wide variety of topics and activities. During the first meeting, which was held a few weeks ago, they mostly got familiar with each other. Not only did they play name games, they learned about each other’s values. Talk about getting to know each other!

This program has benefitted many students and helped them see their full potential. All five students that applied from TPA got in, and according to Sam, this is saying something very good about our school.