In Class, High-Schoolers Learn To Lead

Find ways to collaborate with others. Delegate work when you’re overwhelmed. Be open to criticism. And don’t panic when the best laid plans go a bit awry. 

Those are a few of the lessons that High School in the Community (HSC) junior and literary magazine editor Samuel Rosenberg has learned in a new class focused on training current student leaders how to excel as the heads of their respective clubs and groups.

Rosenberg is one of more than a dozen student leaders of the Water Street public high school’s Production Companies ​“ProCo” programs. 

HSC’s ProCo’s are student-interest clubs that are hosted by student leaders every Wednesday during the school day. They include clubs that focus on literary writing, photography, student council, and environmental activism, among other interests.

A new leadership course, introduced by Magnet Resource Teacher Dianna Carter, is happening for the first time this year as a result of student leaders’ requests for more support with running their clubs. 

The leadership course consists of mostly juniors and seniors. The course provides time during the school day for students to organize club meetings and events for all students. 

During ​“Leadership 101’s” first meetup of the new year in early January, students took a break from organizing their own clubs to work together on several tasks for upcoming school-wide events. 

While ProCo’s have been around for over a decade at HSC to inspire student leadership, HSC hasn’t had a dedicated course to teaching its students how to run their clubs until now. 

“The goal is to give them a space for their passion,” Carter said. 

The leadership course is also Carter’s first return to classroom teaching since she moved into her administrative role three years ago. Prior to that move, Carter worked as an English teacher. 

Carter said that the course is designed to enhance the students’ leadership skills and also provide them with proof on their high school transcripts that they were and are student leaders. 

Each week, one student in the class takes on the role of class leader and runs through ProCo lessons to practice and gain feedback from their peers.

Before the most recent class officially began and Carter waited for students to roll in, the group watched a C‑SPAN broadcast of the vote for the Speaker of the House, at the request of Rosenberg. 

As they watched, the students asked each other questions like, ​“Why can’t they cast ballots instead of saying it aloud?” while others pictured themselves in the future seats of the Congressional representatives. 

During the class, students created a run of show for the school’s weekly school-wide morning announcements show called ​“Mo-Mondays.”

For a few minutes during class students also debriefed about how their ProCo’s are going and how their most recent meetings went. 

One student said while her ProCo group is small and typically quiet, the group was more engaged this past week, which she celebrated as a success. 

Rosenberg reflected on a recent lesson he’s learned about perfectionism and team work. As leader of the school’s literary magazine, called ​“HSC Real Squawk,” Rosenberg said his team of fellow students is preparing for the schools upcoming ProCo fair. 

Rosenberg said he’s learned to not always expect the magazine-making process to be perfect. He’s also learned to delegate tasks to his team rather than overwhelming himself with the entire work load for the club. 

“I learned the hard way that you can’t expect people to be at the same level of readiness as you,” he said. ​“Now I plan in advance for failure and am not so afraid of being flexible with things.” 

Rosenberg founded the magazine club his sophomore year upon returning from remote learning. His goal was to bring his passions for writing and digital media to school and provide a medium for students to publish their literary work after several years of remote learning. Last year he added that he was doing nearly all of his ProCo work outside of school and struggled to fit his passion into his schedule. 

He recalled being an independent worker his freshman and sophomore years. ​“I didn’t like relying on others,” he said. ​“Now I’ve gained the important leadership skill of collaborating.” 

The school magazine has since become an outlet for students to publish their poetry, creative writing, and class work they are proud of. It’s also a venue for other ProCo’s to show off their work. Rosenberg described the publication as one that ​“leads to a free exchange of ideas.” 

As a result of more than a year of remote learning, Rosenberg said he had grown to be distant from his peers and missed out of socialization which caused him to develop into an independent worker.

The leadership class has allowed for Rosenberg to have time in-school to brainstorm and it gives him easy access to his peers to run his ideas by, he said. 

In small groups the class worked on three school-wide tasks. 

They prepped for the school’s alumni day (click here to read about that), created a form and flyer for students to change their ProCo mid-January, and they created an agenda for an upcoming visit by middle school counselors to HSC to learn more about the school. 

During last week’s leadership class, HSC senior Yeuris Asencio reflected on what he’s learned so far as student council president and what he’s improved on with the help of the leadership course. 

Asencio said he ran for school council president as a joke toward the end of his junior year and was surprised when he won. Once in the role starting this school year, he realized that he was ill-prepared to live up to the job. 

“I wasn’t prepared at all,” he said.

Asencio did, however, have a newfound interest in politics after taking an AP government course his junior year. ​“I realized this was the perfect chance for me to make change,” he said. 

The leadership course has helped Asencio to better learn how to roll with the punches and learn time management.

During the fall semester Asencio took a class at Gateway Community College and had to learn how to balance weekly college essays with high school work and leading student council. 

Two weeks ago, Asencio also ran into a snag while arranging a school event. He had decorated the school’s cafeteria a day in advance, only to find that, on the day of the event, the school’s maintenance team had accidentally taken down all of the decorations. Instead of complaining or panicking, he took a deep breath and redecorated the day of. 

He said he plans to take these skills among others with him throughout college and beyond. His goals: to go to law school, and to run for Congress.

Junior leaders Igmaire Cruz and Angelisse Perez help to run the school’s LGBTQ pride and environmental justice clubs. 

The two agreed that the leadership course has helped them in their head roles by allowing them to run ideas by their classmates in advance of club meetings and prepare club activities and events in school rather than having to find the time outside of school. 

During class time Cruz is able to organize fundraisers for their club while Perez uses some class time to arrange student hikes and overnight camping trips. 

“What are we doing if not prepping them to be leaders beyond these walls?” Carter asked. 

See below for other recent Independent articles about teaching, reading, and working inside New Haven Public Schools classrooms.

• High-Schoolers Get Tips From Future Selves
• TAG Turns Into ​“Wellness Wednesday”
• Volcano Pose Helps Students Erupt, Cool Off
• Gateway Chief Uncovers Student Superpowers
• New Tutoring Site Focuses On Phonics
• Race Finds A Place In The Classroom
• ​“Little Engineers” Build Boats For Pirate Pete
• Seeking Stability, Cross Principal Hits The Halls
• Hispanic Heritage Takes Center Stage At Career High Fest
• Teacher Tim Takes To TikTok
• Amid Shortage, Teachers Cite Disrespect