Laker Leaders at Lake City MS
From tutoring at their school to volleyball at a nursing home, a group of Lake City Middle School students are leading activities to help their school and the Rocky Top area.
Frank Newcomb, LCMS guidance counselor, recently addressed the Anderson County Board of Education about the program.
“It’s great to have some adult voices, but we need to hear from our students and figure out what they want, how our school can be successful academically, but also the culture of the school,” Newcomb said.
So, the school formed The Laker Leaders, a group of eighth-grade students, with five boys and five girls.
Newcomb said they “exemplifiy great leadership skills not only in school but in their homes and their communities.”
He said the Laker Leaders work with staff and other students.
Last year, he said, they had weekly meetings about “concerns, ideas and plans for success in academics and the culture of Lake City Middle School.
“I used to tease them all the time saying, ‘I just get you out of class, you guys do all the hard work,’” Newcombe said.
The Laker Leaders organized visits to the Summit View of Rocky Top nursing home. The group played balloon volleyball there.
“Some of the most humbling moments, not only for the staff there but our students and then also me as well,” Newcombe said of the nursing home visits.
He also said the students organized a food drive collecting Thanksgiving dinners for 10 families.
Another food drive like it will start Sept. 26 to help 20 families.
The group also organized a career fair with 30 presenters from Rocky Top and surrounding areas to discuss money, budgeting and careers.
“Some kids never saw checks before,” said Newcombe, regarding lessons at that event.
Another Laker Leaders-developed program involved students helping other students with reading skills.
The group also developed a program for Friday activities, including charades and karaoke.
Anderson County Schools Director of Schools Tim Parrot said he’d met with the group, and he spoke about them in glowing terms.
“You will see them as leaders at Anderson County High School,” Parrott said of the Laker Leaders.
