Gabriella Allegra & Aiden Davis earned spot in JLO class
On April 24, Cornwall Middle School eighth graders Gabriella Allegra and Aidan Davis were among the 37 students to graduate from the Junior Leadership Program. Each year, up to 38 students from Orange County’s 16 school districts are chosen to participate in the program, which is a collaboration with the Orange County Youth Bureau and Leadership Orange.
According to the Leadership Orange website, students are identified as up and coming youth leaders in the seventh grade and formal training begins the following year. This youth empowerment program is designed to provide leadership skills, life skills, career exposure, and preparedness to youth who will potentially become the business and community leaders of the future. JLO (Junior Leadership Orange) effectively engages youth by challenging them to develop skills, gain critical awareness, and act as community advocates.
As part of the process, students had to write an essay on why they think they’re a leader and what motivates them to push forward.
Davis said he wrote about his brother because he has autism, ADHD, and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
“He’s my motivation because I want him to live in a good world,” said Davis.
Allegra decided to write about her struggles growing up and other people’s expectations of her.
Being an only child, she talks about not having any siblings to look up to, but also about wanting to make her parents proud.
About 100 students submitted essays for consideration and Cornwall’s students were two of the 37 selected to participate in the program. Starting in October, each month the students were excused from school and spent a day visiting a different location within the county to attend interactive educational presentations. They meet with instructors and facilitators from a variety of sectors in leadership positions across Orange County and receive training in several areas including leadership, education and college readiness, the justice system, public speaking and communication, volunteerism, diversity, fiscal literacy, and quality-of-life.
The students visited Orange-Ulster BOCES and had the opportunity to sit in on a choice of classes. One of the two classes Davis chose was a digital film class while Allegra sat in on a fashion class. Noting her grandmother taught her how to sew, she got to observe the students working on incredible projects and then had a chance to create a design of her own using just hearts.
In December, Allegra and Davis pretended to be Santa Claus and responded to five letters each written by children listing what they wanted for Christmas.
“Impersonating Santa is never easy,” Allegra said. “The big man has his own structure of doing stuff. It made you feel like a little kid.”
Davis said he enjoyed the creative liberties he was allowed to take in responding to the letters.
The students visited the Newburgh Armory and a police station. At the Orange County 911 center, they got to experience real calls. They were impressed by the calmness of the operator who was talking to someone trapped in a car and was unsure where she was.
While at the 911 center, the students gathered in the auditorium and each had to go up on stage to give a one minute speech about a random subject. Most chose to talk about the sports in which they participate, Davis, however chose to speak about pizza and Allegra decided on mozzarella sticks. One of the last places they visited was a courthouse where they saw real trials. The judge was following up with folks trying to recover from substance abuse. Afterwards, the judge spoke to the kids, asking if they had any questions.
Over the last six months, the students had a chance to meet with other leaders in the community including government officials, a bank owner, and an Army veteran who discussed the leadership skills necessary to be in the Army.
“What I learned is how to be more confident when speaking in general,” said Davis, adding each graduate had to give a speech, at graduation, about what they took away from the program.
Allegra thanked the people who ran the program and took the time out of their day to teach the students.
Looking forward, Davis said he plans to take what he learned and apply it to volunteer efforts.
He mentioned a requirement for graduation from high school is participating in 200 hours of community service, which he plans to achieve. Allegra admitted to having an issue with stuttering, but the program has helped her overcome that. She plans on speaking in front of people more and sharing her opinions. As a Girl Scout looking to complete her Silver Award project, one of the requirements will be to communicate with volunteers what tasks need to be done.
Davis added he’d like to help tutor other classmates and help them with their confidence, especially when it comes to public speaking. Allegra said she wants to assist her peers in learning how to do things independently and if they’re struggling, how to get things done more easily.
“I think JLO was an incredible honor and really cool and interesting to see all we got to see,” Davis said. “I’m super glad we were selected to do it. I met a lot of people I wouldn’t have been able to meet. I saw a lot of things I wouldn’t have been able to see. It will be helpful later in life.”
