Leadership Clubs for Boys

As school counselors, we often provide behavior intervention for students who are making poor choices or who lack the skills needed to navigate a variety of social situations. In my experience, creating a leadership club specifically for boys helped to increase their confidence, provided accountability, and encouraged them to make better decisions socially.

The main goal of most behavior interventions is to keep children in the classroom learning and out of the office with discipline referrals and recurring suspensions. This post shares a glimpse into the leadership club my co-counselor and I created a few years ago.

Falcon Boys Leadership Club

There are some school years where the “full moon” seems to stay in effect on a regular basis. This particular school year, the full moon parked itself over the 5th-grade students. It seemed that each class had its own challenges due to behavior concerns. My co-counselor and I began to brainstorm ideas for a leadership club that would focus on good character and the leadership qualities some of our students appeared to be lacking.

The students on our radar were meeting almost regularly with the administration. Their teachers were becoming more and more frustrated and looking for a solution. As we thought about how a leadership club would come together, we recognized that it was going to be important to include a male mentor in our plan.

We also decided that we wanted the leadership club to include a variety of students in order to have positive role models among the group as well. We didn’t want the group to appear as a “problem group” but more as a group of young men working to improve their leadership and decision-making skills.

We reached out to a former teacher assistant at our school, Mr. Agnew, to facilitate our group. Mr. Agnew always had a way of connecting with the students, so we felt his leadership would be well received. He said his goals were to show the boys how to deal with daily issues without disruption in the classroom, to help them develop short and long-term goals, and to give them exposure to other things in the world.

His biggest challenge was figuring out what made each one tick without having any background knowledge of the boys. He wanted to change the direction of the problems with understanding and compassion.

We sent a letter to the parents of all of the boys for permission to participate. It said:

Dear Parents,
Your child has been invited to participate in the Falcon Boys Leadership Club at
_________ Elementary. The boys will participate in a lunch bunch on Fridays during the school day with
Mr. Agnew. Counselors and other members of the community will stop by on occasion to offer support and guidance. During the lunch bunch, they will explore and learn the skills related to developing them into responsible leaders at home, school, and in the community.
Please sign and return the bottom portion of this letter giving permission for your child to participate in this leadership group. It would be helpful if you could assist in reinforcing the skills learned in the club at home. During the year, the club will have the opportunity to participate in various activities as a reward
for displaying good character and leadership. Dates and times will be announced later. Thank you so much for supporting this great opportunity for your child. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Additionally, we solicited financial support from a few places in our community. We prepared a letter and secured some great incentives for the boys including target gift cards and Frostys from Wendys. Here’s how that letter read:

To Whom It May Concern,

Greetings from the ________ Elementary School Counselors! We have a new group at school called the Falcon Boys Leadership Club. The group is comprised of ten boys who have struggled academically, socially or behaviorally.

Our vision for our group is to prepare the fifth-grade boys to become leaders at home, school, and in the community. Each week the boys will participate in various sessions which will help them demonstrate quality leadership with the guidance of their mentor, Mr. Agnew.

This letter is being written to inquire about donations for our group.  On each meeting day, the boys will wear their team t-shirts and participate in team-building activities.   The counselors will assist Mr. Agnew with the planning of the group activities, snacks, and field trips. In this regard, we need tangible donations or monetary gifts to assist us in fulfilling our plans for the group this year.  Any amount small or large will help benefit the boys and would be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us using the information provided below.

During the weekly meetings, the boys discussed good character traits, did team-building activities, and learned how to tie a necktie. We used the community donations to provide incentives for good reports from their teachers. They also worked as a team to earn a pizza lunch. They were told that as a group they would be working to earn a special field trip. We had another surprise up our sleeves.

Our NFL Sponsor

We decided that we wanted something big for the boys to work toward. That’s where defensive end Jarran Reed of the Green Bay Packers came in. At the time, he was playing for the Seattle Seahawks.

The plan was for the boys to have the opportunity to meet Jarran in person in the spring of that school year. However, they had to earn it. We scheduled weekly mentor meetings for the boys with Mr. Agnew and we collected weekly behavior data from their teachers each week. If any of the boys had an off week, we would meet with them individually to hopefully get them back on the right track.

Jarran Reed sponsored our leadership club and paid for our club t-shirts which became their “uniforms” for mentor meeting days. He also paid for the boys’ spring field trip to an indoor trampoline park and lunch at Golden Corral. He came to North Carolina and joined us for the day, and the boys had a blast.

We were so proud of this group of boys at the end of the school year. They really came a long way. They put in the work and were able to enjoy an opportunity they never would have had otherwise. We were grateful that Mr. Agnew cared enough to volunteer his time at our school in his retirement to help direct these young men on a positive path. He said the most rewarding part of being their mentor was the feedback he received from teachers and from the boys themselves.

I really hope the experience was something they will never forget.

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