THE BUTLER WAY FUTURE-FOCUSED LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

Brief Program Summary: Each summer, the Butler University College of Education (COE) offers a leadership development experience for local high school students. Butler University targets recruitment efforts in Center Township high schools, and intentionally works to engage participants from historically underserved backgrounds, including Black and Latinx high school students. Previous iterations of the leadership experience were named Butler Way Leadership Camps and each year of camp followed a unique theme (ex: College, Career, & Community). In response to increased calls to break down the silos of secondary ed, higher ed, and the workforce, the COE faculty re-imagined the camp for 2021. High school students who participated in the 2021 leadership development opportunity, The Butler Way Future-Focused Leadership Academy, engaged in a leadership development curriculum created by graduate students in Butler’s Experiential Program for Preparing School Principals and informed by three key resources: 1) Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines by Jamie Merisotis, 2) Class Disrupted podcast hosted by Michael B. Horn & Diane Tavenner, and 3) An American Imperative: A New Vision of Public Schools a report from the Learning 2025: National Commission on Student-Centered, Equity-Focused Education. 2021 Academy participants received a non-credit bearing certificate of completion from the College of Education. For iterations of the Academy beyond 2021, Butler is exploring the possibility of offering camp completers the option to enroll in a credit bearing early college experience that would offer students high value credits that would be transferable to higher education institutions across Indiana while building high school students’ confidence in their ability to succeed in higher education. This approach is aligned with the Butler Beyond Strategic Direction.