Editor’s note: this story was written by Cori Burcham.
Excited chatter from a group of secondary school students quieted down as the results from an online poll appeared onscreen at the Siegfried Youth Leadership Program (SYLP), a leadership conference held semi-annually at the University of Delaware campus. After ranking a list of 10 occupations from lowest to highest projected income, the students discovered a direct correlation between earnings and level of education.
“Why do you think it is that people with more education tend to earn more?” asked Laura Ahlstrom, a researcher at UD’s Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE), and whose interactive session “Invest in Your Future: It’s Your Paycheck” encouraged class participation.
“Most people can be a cashier, but not everybody can be a doctor,” said one student, hinting at Ahlstrom’s key lesson — higher education is an investment in human capital that can diversify career opportunities and contribute to future success.
These are the kinds of leadership development skills SYLP’s spring program instilled in students from local Delaware schools, invited on the morning of March 18 to hear from motivational speakers at UD’s Clayton Hall. Sponsored in partnership by The Siegfried Group, the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economic’s CEEE, Horn Entrepreneurship and Junior Achievement of Delaware, SYLP has been challenging students in grades 8 through 12 to envision their future career paths, define their life goals, and begin fostering the skills necessary to achieve them since the program began in 2016.
Ahlstrom’s presentation, one of four 40-minute breakout sessions offered that day, touched on a question every high schooler must answer approaching graduation: whether or not college is the right path for them, and if the benefit of higher education outweighs the cost.
Over 400 students spent the morning attending two sessions on topics related to SYLP’s core principles: entrepreneurship, economics, and leadership development. These sessions, led by college professors, local business leaders, and UD faculty members, had students break up into smaller groups to encourage interactive learning and provide opportunities to build friendships with new peers. The sessions offered this spring included:
- “Compelling Connections: Strengthening and Sustaining Relationships,” a lesson on building and maintaining strong relationships through life’s ups and downs, led by Lauren Campbell and Nick Enos, executives from The Siegfried Group.
- “From Competition to Monopoly: Market Structures and Mutually Beneficial Relationships,” an engaging session on the characteristics of market structures and their positive impact on marketplace participants, led by UD Bank of America Professor Carlos Asarta, James B. O’Neill Director of the CEEE.
- “Connection 101: Networking Using Your Best Self,” an interactive session led by Nat Measley, adjunct faculty member with Horn Entrepreneurship at UD, that encouraged students to practice self-reflection through the acronym CORE (confidence, optimism, resilience and engagement) to introduce new acquaintances to their best self.
The individual breakout sessions were introduced at the fall 2024 SYLP conference. Educators in attendance, many of whom were long-time attendees of SYLP, noted the addition had significantly improved the students’ experience.
Kyle Stackhouse, the dean of students at Saint Edmond’s Academy, believed the new format kept his eighth graders engaged. “The first time I came, they didn’t have the breakout sessions, and I think those have actually helped break up the day for the students,” said Stackhouse.
“I’m very happy that they changed the format. In the [early] years of SYLP, it was very much direct instruction from the host and from the Siegfried employees,” said Kelly Bench, a social studies instructor from Hodgson Vocational Technical High School in Newark who has attended SYLP since it began.
One of the most beneficial aspects of the breakout sessions, noted Bench, was that they provided her students with the chance to practice networking in small groups, an essential skill to have when entering the workforce.
After attending a morning of breakout sessions, the students gathered in the auditorium to explore the value of creating compelling connections from keynote speaker Henna Pryor, a two-time TEDx speaker, UD alumna, and the award-winning author of Good Awkward.
Attributing her successful career to the network of relationships she’s built over the years, Pryor’s presentation centered on the self-consciousness people feel when creating new connections.
“When it comes to taking a risk in the moment, we spend way too much energy and attention on whether other people approve over whether we personally improve,” said Pryor, mentioning that the fear of failure often prevents people from taking professional risks.
Similar to building our skills through academia or muscle through exercise, Pryor recommended practicing mindset training — a skill she learned from NFL quarterback Russell Wilson and his mental conditioning coach, Trevor Moawad — to combat any critical thoughts keeping students from starting uncomfortable conversations. While the National Science Foundation research reveals 80% of thoughts are negative, said Pryor, mindset can be made actionable by practicing neutral thinking, a behavior-based mode of thinking centered on fact.
“You can’t control your first thought, but you can control your second,” said Pryor, who suggested practicing one of five techniques to switch negative thinking patterns to neutral:
- Look for the evidence: Pryor’s favorite technique, which asks you to confirm negative thoughts are true before allowing them to stop you.
- Distant self-talk: a technique that encourages you to address yourself as someone else to remove emotion and reframe the threat of failure as a challenge.
- Asking “What would you tell your friend?”: a technique that helps you approach a situation objectively.
- Imaginary time travel: a process that creates temporal distance from a situation to gain perspective on whether or not it will matter in the future.
- Using physical reset cues: a technique that helps you shift from thought to action.
The final event of the day was a panel discussion moderated by Pryor featuring five students who shared their takeaways from the day of leadership training. Lucas Rodriguez from MOT Charter High School in Middletown, connected with Pryor’s advice: “it’s impossible to get better at anything and look good at the same time,” because it reflects his upper school journey.
“Throughout my freshman year, I was a completely different kid. I was more shy, more introverted, and I learned that I have to get used to this feeling of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable,” said Rodriguez.
Keeley Coleman from Smyrna High School was also inspired by Pryor’s presentation to tackle a difficult conversation, one she admits she’s been avoiding doing in person.
“I didn’t really know how to go about putting my two weeks’ notice in, so I did it over text,” said Coleman, realizing her social misstep at SYLP. “So now that I know, I’m just going to take a deep breath and go to [my boss], and I’m going to have an actual talk with her because I think that’s very important.”
In addition to providing students with leadership tools and a free copy of Good Awkward to help make their mindset more actionable in their daily life, SYLP has become a vital resource for educators as well.
Ashley Carrow, a counselor at Smyrna High School and first-time SYLP attendee, noted the motivational speakers can reach her students in ways academic mentors often can’t.
“I thought [the presentations] were very engaging, especially for my high school students. Some of them were hard truths that they need to hear from other people that they don’t typically want to listen to,” said Carrow.
Recalling her students’ positive experience at the SYLP Economics Summer Camp, a separate one-week student program focused on economics and leadership, Bench continues to encourage her students to apply for opportunities made possible by the generous sponsorship of Rob and Kathy Siegfried.
“It’s amazing what the Siegfried family does to give back. The fact that it’s free — taking kids on a field trip is expensive, and so it is very nice that they host this for us, the local high schools. It’s big,” said Bench.