Milton Area High School added Student Leadership, a new course for the 2025-26 school year. This class is linked with Student Council.
“The activities we do follow the Jostens Renaissance Curriculum,” added Student Leadership Teacher Ms. Lauren Richie.
According to Ms. Richie, they chose to use the Jostens Renaissance Curriculum because “it is free to Jostens yearbook customers. We have been to student council conferences (with schools) who use this curriculum, and we have been very impressed with the results of other districts.”
“This curriculum is a comprehensive framework and set of resources designed to improve school culture, climate, and student engagement through a focus on the ‘6 Rs’: Respect, Recognize, Reward, Reinforce, Relationship and Results,” according to jostensrenaissance.com.
Milton’s Student Leadership class has 20 students from all grades, Ms. Richie said. They were hand-picked by teachers in the middle school and high school to take the class all four years of high school, she added.
“Qualities that make kids successful in this class are strong work ethic, leads by example, communicates with confidence and is involved with the school and community,” said Student Leadership Teacher Ms. Casie Baker.
According to Ms. Richie, the class builds community, increases a positive climate and culture, identifies obstacles and how to overcome them and helps improve the school.
The students do an appreciation breakfast every marking period for our food service workers and a staff room service. “The goal is to have students model their ideas through their actions,” she added.
The expectation is that when students leave this course, they still go out and model everything they learned throughout their high school career, Ms. Richie said. She added since this class has just begun this year, they have not run into any problems or challenges.
“Students develop the most during this class by putting their ideas into practice. You might talk about having a really great idea how you can make our school a better place, but if you don’t put them into action, it’s not going to matter,” Ms. Richie said.
Students will end up with communicating with classmates and teammates when they go out in the world or to get a job or when they are working towards a goal, Ms. Richie explained.
“This class prepares students to be more comfortable and confident with sharing their ideas and putting them into practice, which is something that they are going to need to do,” said Ms. Baker.
According to Senior and Student Council President Camryn Hoover, she has learned from this class how to work better with people, how to read in front of an audience and how to make the school a better place. She added that she has developed leadership skills and speaking skills from this class.
Camryn said that she communicates with advisors and talks to administrators to get plans approved for student council. She added she loves making sure everyone’s opinions are heard, and added there are not many disagreements among class members.
“I was surprised how much motivation you need to do stuff. Also that goals need to be met and achieved,” Camryn added. She also added that theclass brings everyone together, and she has been able to experience the class.
