Community Corner

Whiz Kid: Leadership Via Self-Confidence

Wildwood sophomore represents Lafayette High School at state leadership seminar. Annie Henning recommits to her local community and pledges to help others stay involved with Wildwood-related and area causes.

Annie Henning, of Wildwood, joined 170-plus young leaders at the Missouri Leadership Seminar, Inc., held June 3-5 at the University of Central Missouri campus in Warrensburg, MO. She was selected by sophomore principal Kirti Mehrotra to represent at the event.

She is the daughter of Wildwood residents Mary Lynne and George Henning.

Henning is a National Honor Society member and 4.0 Renaissance Gold Card student at Lafayette. She recently became a Gateway West Young Achiever.

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The Missouri Leadership Seminar, Inc., is a gateway program that introduces future leaders to the values of leadership, citizenship and community service. Spokesperson Michelle Zink said participants learn while interacting with other high school sophomore leaders from every background and community throughout Missouri. Service projects are used during the seminar and afterward as a way to introduce young leaders to the personal and social values of service, as well as volunteerism.

"The people at this seminar were completely amazing," said Henning. "They were totally comfortable with themselves, outgoing, and I felt like I knew them my whole life in those few days I was with them. It made me all the more at home there."

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She said many of the students did not hail from large cities or suburbs, but they "came from small towns or farming areas of about 10,000 with grades that had an average of 12 students!"

"If I, or anyone else for that matter, ever needed a shoulder to cry on for any reason, my friends and peers there at MLS were there with no judgements, just comfort and support," she said.

The mission of the seminar is to identify and actively engage young potential leaders, help them understand their own strengths and abilities and teach them how to use their gifts to positively influence others to serve their communities and their nations, said Zink.

Henning said, "In all true reality, I was not taught real leadership skills in the way some places teach it—like rules. Rather, MLS taught me leadership skills, like confidence, not only in yourself, but in your peers. It also taught me the use and beauty of communication, and emotions through being there, and using the skills and lessons firsthand.

"But what MLS really teaches the ambassadors there is who they are, and what they can achieve with just the right attitude. In my opinion I did not learn about leadership, I learned about myself and who I want to be as a leader."

After attending the leadership seminar, Henning committed to 100 hours of volunteering, and a fundraising goal to allow her to return next year as a junior ambassador. The Missouri Leadership Seminar is funded by local clubs, such as Rotary and Optimist, as well as private donations.

"When it comes to community service, I have come to realize now that it does not have to be the cookie cutter stuff, like going to a food pantry or visiting the sick," she said. "It can be things you're passionate about, like sports, music or cooking. It also can be something you think you can do to make your school or community better, like create new fundraisers or having your friends help you clean up a park."

Henning said she is applying what she learned at the seminar by always having a 'PMA,' or positive mental attitude. "Because of this, I have a stronger confidence to be myself, and to pursue what I want to do in life and in my community. Also, I have lots of new ideas I am bringing back to my school, based off the lessons and experience I got at MLS," she said. "I am also getting even more involved with my community and my fellow MLS ambassadors' communities through ideas and service work that we have done together."

She said the most important lessons she took away from the seminar was that people need to enjoy every day and take things by the day, or by the moment. "The challenge of MLS was to laugh, to cry and to think every day, or else the day's not complete—and that our strength from within is the backbone to who we are," she said.

"As a person, community, and hope of the future, it is our job to never let that fire and strength burn out, or else we cannot make a full contribution to the people we touch as we achieve our goals."


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