“Story County juniors and seniors, you are clear for take-off!”

This fall, we are excited to roll out our new youth leadership development program, PILOT, to area high school juniors and seniors.

What is PILOT, you ask? PILOT is the revamped Youth Leadership Ames program designed to reach more students, communities, and local leaders. This year our five all-day sessions will focus on developing competencies in philanthropy, inclusion, leadership, opportunity, and teamwork. Those who attend all five event days will receive a Leadership Certificate on the final event day. Students will also have the option to complete a service project of their choosing, and will receive a Community Involvement Certificate in addition to their Leadership Certificate. There is no cost to participate, we only require students to pre-register online and turn in a signed parent/guardian permission slip.

We often hear from our local employers that young professionals are entering the workforce chock full of content and technical knowledge, but are still a bit green around the edges. This program aims to help students develop soft skills and leadership abilities while focusing on universal core values.

To kick the program off, we will be meeting at SportsIowa on Friday, September 20^th. Senior Captains will begin deepening their leadership skills by coming early to help set-up and then run the day’s program from registration to introducing speakers and leading activities and discussions. Throughout the morning we will focus on what it means to be philanthropic through a keynote, panel and activity. After lunch we will talk about different causes and passions before speaking with different organizations at a non-profit fair. Students will have the last half hour to work on their service project scopes.

You can find more information and FAQs online. Register your student for the first event today!