Southwest Youth Leadership Conference

 

June 2-5, 2008

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The Southwest Youth Leadership Conference, founded in 1980, brings 75 students to the campus of Oklahoma Christian University each year to provide traning in leadership, civic engagement, patriotism, and community involvement.

The Southwest Youth Leadership Conference is hosted in partnership with the Military Order of the World Wars, the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, and the Sojourners.  The program provides a week of seminars and team learning opportunities for students who want to develop as leaders so as to serve their communities.

The program is broken into four sections over four days, each of which focues on a different issue.  On the first day, students receive training based in history including the making of the Star Spangled Banner and the role of symbolism in motivation, the culture of determination in establishing the United States, American heritage--successes and failures, and the development of free enterprise.

On the second day, students focus on the challenges facing the United States and the difficut decisions leaders are forced to make.  For example, students wrestle with the issue of terrorism and the conflict between freedom and security.  They also consider the trade-off between inexpensive energy sources and long-term concern for the environment.

The following day, students consider the role of law and organizational controls in regulating behavior and achieving success.  Students will consider the role of the leader in an organization, contrasting the transactional leader and the transformational leader.  Additionally, students will discover the role of the constitution, government, and the courts in shaping the functioning of society.

On the fourth and final day, students will be encouraged to identify ways in which they can make a difference in their communities by taking the lead and encouraging others to work for change.  Students will be presented with a number of role models to inspire them to servant leadership.

Students selected for the program are primarily junior ROTC students who hope to become officers and leaders in the armed services.