Leadership magazine Jan/Feb 2016 V45 No 3 | Page 30

Building Leadership
Capacity Through Student
Charters: A Reflection
As educational
administration
students become
increasingly involved in
ACSA through student
charters, their ability to
best make a difference
in student lives is
positively affected.

30

Leadership

ACSA’s Region 9 Student Charter

has been helping to build strong leaders
for more than 15 years, and my personal
experience with this phenomenal organization represents just one example of how
many educational leaders have benefitted
from its existence.
During the time I was working on a master’s in educational leadership and administration from California State University,
Fresno, professor Don Wise encouraged me
to attend a Student Charter board meeting
to learn more about ACSA.
I had never heard of ACSA. To me, this
was simply one more acronym to add to my
professional education vocabulary. I could
never have anticipated that attending this
first meeting would begin a professional
journey leading to learning experiences and
career opportunities that would both reignite my passion for educational leadership

and also allow me to build my capacity for
making a difference in the lives of students.
Region 9’s Student Charter partners with
area universities and Phi Delta Kappa. Student Charter advisors Don Wise, along with
Michele Pecina and Vicki Pontius from National University, Matt Gehrett from Fresno
Pacific University, and Al Owen from Phi
Delta Kappa, actively recruit educational
administration students to join ACSA. It is
this connection that led others and myself
to involvement in the charter that is committed to providing professional learning,
networking, and scholarship opportunities
for its members. ACSA’s Region 9 Student
Charter inspires and builds the capacity of
leaders from the Central California counties
of Mariposa, Merced, Madera and Fresno.
At the first Region 9 Student Charter
By Katherine Goyette