America's Rising Stars -

Youth Leadership Development

America's Rising Stars is a life development process...preparing youth for a future of success and excellence

The America's Rising Stars Process is designed to help today's youth develop their personal leadership skills. Leadership is essential in enabling youth to develop character, confidence, and values that promote the goal of healthy behavior. Research shows a majority of American youth engages in health compromising behavior. In her pioneering book, Adolescents at Risk , Joy Dryfoos concludes that half of all ten to seventeen year olds are at high or moderate risk of undermining their chances for a healthy life because of substance abuse, unsafe sex, teen pregnancy, school failure and delinquency, crime or violence.

Rising Stars is a research based process. It is modeled after an adult Leadership Development process which has been used successfully with hundreds of thousands of individuals for more than twenty years. The need for Rising Stars has been supported by the research of Search Institute and their study of: forty developmental assets, experiences, opportunities and internal capacities essential for health and success in our complex society. Search Institute is an independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization located in Minneapolis, Minnesota whose mission is to advance the well being of adolescents and children by generating knowledge and promoting its application. Search Institute and Rising Stars believe if our society would invest more in positive things young people need, then we could expect high yields (in terms of healthier youth) as young people become healthy, contributing members of families, communities, workplaces, and society.

America's Rising Stars is an innovative and unique inside-out development process that focuses on three critical elements that promote personal leadership, healthy behaviors and the skills employers identify as essential. These elements are;

• developing positive attitudes
• developing interpersonal skills
• developing goal-achievement skills

The development process typically begins by developing positive attitudes among the participants, both about themselves and others, and about the infinite possibilities that exist for them. Attitudes will directly determine in many cases whether a young person...

• turns a problem into an opportunity or succumbs to it
• will behave in healthy ways that ensure a successful present & future
• will benefit from the educational process

Interpersonal skills when combined with increased knowledge and goal-directed behavior, enhance the probability that each young person will assess the impact of their present behavior on their existing and future success.

the vision..........

Through a developmental process, Rising Stars provides a firm foundation to prepare all young people for life-long learning, development, and achievement.

the process.......

A self-development process
of life-long learning to prepare young people for a future of excellence and success.

Rising Stars is an innovative and unique inside-out self-development process. This research based approach focuses on three critical elements that promote personal leadership, healthy behaviors, and the skills employers identify as essential. These elements are developed, applied, and reinforced throughout the process and through a follow-up process to strengthen and perpetuate success behaviors.

Our formula for success:

POSITIVE OUTCOMES OF DEVELOPMENTAL ASSETS

POSITIVE OUTCOMES OF AMERICA'S RISING STARS    DEVELOPMENTAL ASSETS

• Participant successfully applies skills from their
  
  assessment.

• Seeks out options from diverse alternatives.

• Able to make goal-oriented informed decisions.

• Communicates effectively in diverse situations (socially
  
  confident).

• Demonstrates leadership in various situations.

• Team-player and/or leader.

• Provides a vision and purpose to a cause.

• Uses influence to obtain planned outcomes.

Outcomes of the pilot participants:

• Graduates had a 40% grade point increase.

• Graduates had a 56% reduction in school
  
  disciplinary/truancy incidents.

• 75% of the graduates enrolled in college.

Critical Questions...................

The Rising Stars process will help young people turn potential into performance by developing their most valuable asset - themselves. Student leadership development is perhaps the most critical component to achieving civic, corporate, and community goals. Today more than ever, we need to be aware of the benefit of investing in the development of our young people. The results are practical and measurable.

Some critical questions to consider:

• Are our young people prepared to become tomorrow's
  
  leaders?

• Are their scholastic results what they should be?

• Do they value life-long learning?

• Do they demonstrate self-directed learning?

• Should we be even more proactive in helping our young
  
  people get every positive advantage to ensure their
  
  successful future?

• Could we do a better job of preparing our young people
  
  to..
  
  climb higher?
  
  reach farther?
  
  set higher goals?
  
  aim for the stars?
  

If our young people can't lead themselves, how can they lead others?

Participants will learn goal-achieving skills. They will also develop a sense of personal responsibility. This process will ensure their future self-determined success.

Participants of the Rising Stars process are assessed throughout the process to ensure graduates apply the concepts to their everyday lives. Follow-up techniques reinforce and perpetuate successful behaviors.

Outcomes...................