Speaker LEADS Middle School Students Towards Acceptance
Thanks to grant funding from the Greensburg Rotary and Greensburg Salem Education Foundation, motivational speaker Mark Weir visited Greensburg Salem Middle School to engage the students in a program focused on diversity, acceptance and leadership. Mr. Weir is the founder of LEADS, which stands for Leadership: Exploring and Developing Success, a program used to positively impact and influence students’ lives.
Speaker Mark Weir LEADS students at GSMS during a motivational assembly.
The interactive program engaged students in mini group activities to encourage them to learn more about one another. Students gathered in clusters of five or six and shared their birth order and how it affects them. In another activity, students were shown shapes and had to decide which“ geometric identifier” they were drawn to. Mr. Weir discussed the theory that people who choose the same shape are likely to have similar personality traits. For instance, those who chose a circle were apt to be kind, caring, optimistic and generous, while those who chose a squiggly line tend to be unique, creative, witty and innovative.
Michelle Reynolds, a 7th grade student, reported that the activities gave her a chance to learn more about her peers.“ No matter what color of skin or what our ages are, we can all find similarities despite our differences,” she said.
Students were challenged to step outside of their comfort zones and sit with someone new at lunch to get to know people they may not usually connect with.“ We are all in the same community space,” Mr. Weir encouraged.“ The more we act like a family, the more we think like a family!” Eighth-grade student Timaia Lewis thought the LEADS program was inspirational.“ It’ s important for us to lift each other up instead of bringing one another down,” stated Timaia.“ Even though we are all different, we should treat each other with respect.”
reensburg Salem GREENSBURG SALEM SCHOOL District News
Career Speaker Series Showcases Local Professionals
Gone are the days of hosting a traditional“ career day” in which students move from table to table learning a brief snippet of information about specific careers or organizations. Greensburg Salem High School has taken a progressive approach in creating a college and career pathways speaker series, allowing students opportunities to learn more about the skills, behaviors and attitudes needed to succeed in the workforce of an ever-changing economy.
For five weeks this spring, students had the option to choose and attend presentations they had an interest in to learn more about the speakers’ backgrounds, job options within a variety of career fields, required education and training, and the speakers’ journeys to career success.
The speaker series targeted professionals from each of the following pathways to expose students to career opportunities they might not otherwise be exposed to:
• Advanced Manufacturing and Technical Sciences
• Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources
• Information and Communication Technology
• Allied Health and Human Services
• Financial and Business Services, Hospitality, and Pubic Administration
According to Dr. Ken Bissell, Coordinator of Secondary Education, students need more information about the opportunities that exist in our economy.“ Hearing from a variety of speakers from different career fields and professions helps students make the connection of what types of behaviors, mindsets and skills are needed not just to land a job, but build a career,” stated Dr. Bissell.“ We want students to see the importance of developing skills that will transfer from one job to the next as their careers grow.”
Missy Gibbon, a mathematics teacher at the high school, hosted multiple speakers during the series.“ I really thought the career speakers did a great job explaining what they did for a living and
36 Greensburg Salem
Julie Lovis, Prevention Coordinator for Westmoreland Drug and Alcohol Commission speaks to students about her professional background.
what kinds of skills, courses and degrees were needed in order to obtain their positions,” Miss Gibbon said.“ Students were engaged and asked a lot of interesting questions.”
The career speaker presentations are part of the high school’ s Career Awareness Program( CAP), a four-year program with components required for graduation, including Freshman Seminar, Career Presentations, Job Shadowing and completion of a Senior Project. While tenth-grade students were required to participate in the speaker series for CAP, all students were invited to attend career presentation that interested them.
Greensburg Salem would like to thank the following speakers for participating in this year’ s showcase: Chuck Anderson ~ Denise Ardison ~ Mark Barnhart Alison Beeghly ~ Ben Carpenter ~ George Carter ~ Chuck Chappell Amy DeMatt ~ Samantha Gonda ~ Claire Guth ~ Marissa Haynes Kim Houser ~ Chuck Irvin ~ Dan Jacko ~ Mark Kraynick Mike Kuzemchak ~ Roland Laurita ~ Sean Livingston Ken Loughner ~ Julie Lovis ~ Joe Maluchnik ~ Tim Makosky Rich Mazza ~ Terry McCann ~ Chris McCartney ~ Andrea Meyer Diana Neiderhiser ~ Michael Roberts ~ John Schlesman Betsy Spigarelli ~ Jesse Sprajcar ~ Chris Tantlinger ~ Megan Taylor Sue Trout ~ Bernie Wilke