Youth – Page 2 – Transformative Leadership

Youth Build Community while Learning about Transformative Leadership during the Summer: Part 1

[This post is a continuation of previous posts where I’ve been sharing my experience in using the Transformative Leadership framework with groups of youth, in order to empower them to address today’s challenges and contribute to positive change in the community. (See post 1, post 2.]

For many youth, summer vacation is a time for recreation and downtime. This summer I had the pleasure of working with a group of youth who thought it was important to develop skills for service and nurture a culture of learning about how leadership can contribute to bettering relationships with self, others, and community.

One issue we faced was finding space to study and engage in complementary art activities. Our goal was finding a space that did more than provide a roof, but also provided a meaningful opportunity for engagement with the community since Transformative Leadership only takes on its full meaning when participants have a clear opportunity to apply learning through action in a social context. As explained in the framework: personal and social transformation occur concurrently, as a result of engaging in service to the community.

Our group consisted of 9-12 students (between the ages of 10 -15) from 3 schools in Northern Colorado. We gathered weekly throughout the summer to strengthen authentic friendships, study Transformative Leadership, as a shared model of leadership that facilitates personal and social change, and actively apply our learning in action through service.

*Youth strengthen friendships and develop skills for community service at Colorado Feed & Grain Public Market Coffee House, Timnath, Colorado*

Collaboration with a Business Owner Supporting Youth Development

Colorado Feed & Grain Public Market in Timnath, Colorado offers community space for youth and cultivates Northern Colorado’s Creative Economy

Just before school ended for summer vacation, I remembered a newly opened business located in downtown Timnath: The Colorado Feed & Grain Public Market & Coffee House. I was immediately drawn to its warm and welcoming environment which promotes itself as a “community-focused space” that “celebrates tradition, engages change and connects through collaboration” using local arts and crafts. My dream to find a heart-centered community space came true! The owner, Becca, graciously opened her business, offering a space for the Change Agents to meet every Tuesday. She immediately recognized that youth are essential in contributing to a rich and vibrant community. The locale also offered the youth a wonderful example of how art and local artists contribute to the creative economy of Timnath, Colorado. Creative economy adds to the richness of community culture by stimulating creativity and fostering collaborative relationships within the community. It is a perfect example of the appreciation of diverse talents. Studying in the locale was also the beginning of a beautiful relationship between the Change Agents and a local business.

Interaction between Youth and Adults

One of the goals I had in mind by fostering relationships between the youth and a local business was to change the all-too-common perception that youth are not able to contribute positively to our community. To do that, specific needs have to be met to support the empowerment of the youth, one of which is to have a space in the community where learning and contributing can go hand-in-hand. The youth welcomed the opportunity to learn from Becca and wanted to take ownership of the space to show their appreciation to Becca for her support.

This gave them the opportunity to practice mutualistic relationships, which Transformative Leadership emphasizes. In this case, Becca provided the space for their activities and the youth contributed to the betterment of that space by cleaning and organizing the room before and after using it, taking ownership and showing responsibility in ensuring that the space was well cared for and ready for use by the community.

Youth taking ownership
of space by room setup
and cleaning

On the last day that the Change Agents met in the locale, they had a little surprise for Becca. The youth painted mugs with themes of beauty, diversity, and love. The group presented her with these tokens of their appreciation. Bella Kerr, Compass Community Collaborative 10th grade student shared, “…in my experience teenagers are looked at as problems and trouble makers.” On behalf of the group she thanked Becca for making “…us feel welcome and supported,” and added, “it means the world to us.”

It was a beautiful and inspiring experience to see first-hand how youth and a local business owner can foster a mutually supportive relationship within a community. The youth will never forget it!

Youth show gratitude and appreciation
to owner Becca Bay

In the second part of this series, I will share some of what the youth learned from this experience, as well as what I learned as a facilitator.

Beauty and Knowledge Empower Youth with Purpose

“What is beautiful to you?”, I asked a room full of 11-15 year-olds during a Being the Change Through the Lens seminar in a Fort Collins, Colorado school. Several answer: “trees”, “family”, “mountains”, “space”, “friends”, “music”, “dance” and “art”. Another question I posed to the group was, “What do you want to learn about?” Answers were similar to the first question with additions such as, “languages”, “photography”, “science”, “diverse cultures”, “cooking” and “animal-care”. Many of the answers included specific skills and capabilities.

As we reflected on our answers, I realized the significance of the moment. It wasn’t what was beautiful or what we wanted to learn more about, but rather, it was the fact that every single person shared at least one example of something beautiful that attracted them and an example of what they wanted to learn. What was also significant was the effect of our discussion on students. It resonated with individual purpose and the desire to contribute to positive change.

Jeremiah Baltz, an Intercultural Change Agent participant in the Transformative Leadership weekly seminar commented: “Group discussions and questions such as: “What is beauty to you?” and “What can we do to change the world?”, really help your mind to stir with ideas. Before I was introduced to Transformative Leadership, I really had no interest or motivation to investigate what we could do to contribute to the betterment of humanity. It has been very fun, engaging and mind-opening.” Another participant said his purpose was “seeing the beauty in everyday things”.

As our discussion continued we realized that our attraction to beauty awakens a sense of individual purpose for personal change and motivates us to contribute to the betterment of the world around us. Through the Transformative Leadership model, our relationship with individual and collective purpose is nurtured and then expressed through diverse art mediums and projects.

Students study Transformative Leadership and develop ink drawing and watercolor painting skills that cultivate their innate purpose to contribute to personal transformation and positive change.

One day, as our group explored the relationship between beauty, knowledge, and purpose, we focused on two elements from Transformative Leadership’s conceptual framework: our moral responsibility to investigate and apply truth and seeing others as essentially noble. We also selected capabilities that nurture personal transformation, such as learning from reflection on action and creative initiative and others that foster better relationships, specifically imbuing thoughts and actions with love and promoting unity in diversity. As the facilitator, I noticed the following impacts:

the power of ‘beauty’ can motive purpose,
a desire to learn and take ownership of one’s own development,
the ability to question, examine, analyze and reflect using one’s own eyes (rather than seeing through the eyes of others; blind imitation)
a desire to contribute to positive change connected to individual purpose,
the feeling of hope in the world,
positive-self and empowered concept,
the desire to help others develop capabilities

One project — Seeing the Positive in the Negative —was quite simple and yet it provided a challenge for the participants. Students were invited to choose an image such as a tree, potted plant, or chair — something that they could observe. The group had already reflected on how our culture often promotes a competitive or adversarial environment which often results in negative self-concepts and generates challenges in relationships among students. The participants had committed themselves to fostering a culture of cooperation instead of participating in the culture of competition. Even with this clarity of purpose, negative thoughts and habits are difficult to change without practice. Our project’s purpose was to develop the ability to ‘see’ with our own eyes the positive (or beauty) in the (far too often) negative space.

An example of art from Seeing the Positive in the Negative by a student participant.

The students, using pencils and watercolors, were asked to draw the ‘negative’ of their image. Rather than drawing the main subject, they were encouraged to ignore the ‘positive’ (subject) and paint the area that was outside of it (the negative space). It took the class almost an hour and several attempts to see past what they perceived as the main subject of their image. Once they succeeded they were asked to “bring into being something that did not exist before” (Anello, et.al. Transformative Leadership, p. 148), showing, creative initiative, which they had studied in Transformative Leadership.

By developing and practicing the skills to ‘see’ endless potential in the negative — during this class as a project and then in our ongoing relationships with others — we investigate by seeking knowledge and then apply through our actions what we recognize to be positive (beauty or truth).

Partnering the capability of imbuing thoughts and actions with love strengthens this ability and “creates in others the desire to respond positively and to cooperate.”(Anello, et.al. Transformative Leadership, p. 161) This capability also strengthened the element of seeing others as essentially noble. By learning to see the positive in others, we begin to see past the negative and recognize the beauty that is unique to each person.

This also supports promoting unity in diversity, a necessary capability for bettering relationships with others, which is essential when promoting a culture of cooperation where diversity of thought, experience, and culture is valued and desired. The group thought bullying behaviors such as unkind words, hurtful actions, or intimidation would not be so common if more students were able to ‘see the positive’ in each other and appreciate the beauty of diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Young people today are faced with challenges that call for an evolving framework that can translate positive change into action for personal, intrapersonal, and social transformation. As we practiced another capability from Transformative Leadership — learning from reflection on action — we recognized the interconnectedness between beauty, knowledge, and purpose that is universal for students of diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. We learned that our individual purpose helps nurture an atmosphere of inclusive and dynamic friendship and understanding.

Jeremiah shared his personal reflection on purpose stating, “purpose to me is what you feel that you were born to do, by doing something you love or branching out and seeing all the things you’re capable of. Beauty can be inspiring and make you feel connected and it opens up my mind and makes me think of my life. So beauty can definitely help inspire purpose.”

Transformative Leadership is providing youth with a framework for action that empowers them to develop their innate attraction to beauty and cultivates their volition to quench their thirst for knowledge which nurtures individual and collective purpose. Currently, youth are continuing their learning weekly while fostering diverse friendships and community and translating their purpose into action by imbuing inspiration, hope, and love for all.

Jessica Lani Kamál Kerr is a professional photographer and artist and has over 15 years experience in community empowerment at the grassroots level of community, specifically in mentoring young people in addressing the challenges of today. She has been helping students in Northern Colorado embrace beauty in diversity by offering Transformative Leadership in neighborhoods and schools. She is also the founder of Cultivating Capacities, GSO and serves on the Intercultural Community Builders’ Board of Directors, both of which are non-profit organizations based in Northern Colorado. Jessica lives in Colorado with her husband and four children.

Reflections from Guyana–The Need for Transformation in Education

At Nations University in Guyana, we offer a Master’s in Education, in which the students receive a diploma in Educational Leadership from the University of Cambridge. The course materials affirm that “leadership is very widely studied, but not well understood.”

The students in our Master’s program have found the book on Transformative Leadership by Eloy Anello, Joan Hernandez, and May Khadem to be like a breath of fresh air amidst the academic theories they are obliged to study. As one student, Indra Ragnuth commented: “In this Master’s in Education program, we encounter so many theories, but the one that resonates most strongly with us is Transformative Leadership.”

Our Master’s in Education course begins with an examination of what is wrong with education internationally. We learn that “the organizational structure of most schools is fundamentally unchanged since the beginning of the century …for the most part they are hierarchical, bureaucratic and balkanized.”

Internationally, the present attempts at educational reform are proving largely ineffective. Teaching is at a crossroads (Fink 2005: xv, 13). Constant cutbacks, increasing class size, publicized tables of school performance, outside inspections which are of a punitive nature, all contribute to teachers losing the pleasure of teaching.

We are consumed with testing in schools in a mythical search for ‘growth’ that could instead be used for nurturing maturity and deep learning. Hargreaves & Fullan(2012) reflect that there is an obsession with ‘data’ which, in turn, prevents teachers from reflecting on what they are doing, which leads to overlooking important topics for today’s world, such as Environmental Education, World Citizenship, and Health Education.

We know that in recent years, society has become so much more complex; therefore, education needs a more sophisticated model of leadership. We need leaders of leaders, teachers who foster leadership in students.

The critique is as relevant to the North as to its poorer neighbors in the South. Kozol states, “we limit what we teach to what we can easily measure…. thereby pushing our children to focus on memorizing information and regurgitating facts …Imagination and empowering are not big items in the testing and accountability agenda…Choosing the right answer to someone else’s question is what counts.”

How can we, therefore, achieve change?

We need a new agenda, new lines of action and a movement away from robotic teaching in a bid to transform the entire profession. Teachers need to reflect on new ideas. They need to plan for the future and reflect on the past. We need to encourage teachers to take risks and protect others who take risks. We can’t make progress without taking risks. We need to change teaching into a collaborative and collegial profession. We need to regard schools as having a soul. We need to care for those around us and focus on how persons interact with one another. Teachers need to appreciate that they are part of something bigger than themselves.

Students from Nations University celebrate at graduation

Grace Mohamed, one of the students of education at Nations argues that “Transformative Leadership offers hope in developing this new paradigm. We have to change the way people think.”

Transformative Leadership regards leadership as an opportunity for service to others rather than for self-aggrandizement. Another of the students, Duane Phillips, commented that “such an approach does not create dependency. Rather it seeks to empower those who are served.”

Another student, Felicia Dupan, shared: “One of the most valuable features of the Transformative materials was the focus on self-evaluation and learning from reflection. I found this of great benefit in helping me to recognize my strengths and weaknesses. I began to understand that the process of self-reflection was not to dwell on my shortcomings but to learn and grow.”

Another student, Alexandra Collins, said that in reflecting on the materials from Anello and Hernandez she began to understand how crucial the art of encouragement is. She stated, “we need to see the significance of enjoying the success of others, something that is all too often in short supply in our culture in Guyana.”

Our discussion in the Master’s in Education class last weekend focused on how these theories and ideas can be applied to the Guyanese context. We reflected on dealing with constructive criticism, learning from experience, developing effective listening skills and providing constructive feedback to those with whom we work.

Dr. Brian O’Toole is an Educational Psychologist from the UK who moved to Guyana 42 years ago to be of service to the Baha’i community in Guyana. He has served as a consultant for a range of UN agencies in 36 countries on education, health, and development projects. Brian has written more than 60 articles in international journals. He was recently given the highest National Award by the Guyanese government and in May was presented with the MBE by Prince William at Buckingham Palace for services to education.

Youth Transforming Leadership Through The Lens

Photo by student from Being the Change through the Lens, Fort Collins, Colorado

What is the purpose of leadership for today? What concepts, attitudes, skills and qualities contribute to positive leadership and empower youth to navigate and overcome feelings of not belonging, of divisiveness within relationships and the high demands of societal expectations to be “successful” and “perfect”?

A group of middle and high school students in Fort Collins, Colorado, have been exploring the relationship between the purpose of leadership, photography and multi-media art during seven months. In the Being the Change through the Lens workshop, students met for two hours once a week to develop basic photography skills and explore a model of shared leadership that invites individuals to develop a new conceptual framework for personal and social transformation.

Two elements of Transformative Leadership accompanied by student artwork at a recent school exhibition in Fort Collins, Colorado.

In the workshop, the 6 elements and 18 capabilities of Transformative Leadership are expressed through photography and multi-media arts, empowering students to develop their own systematic approach for learning through action that translates into positive change within themselves and in the world around them. Participants, known as Intercultural Change Agents, develop capabilities and practice skills to integrate areas of life into cohesive patterns that are in harmony with their environment and contribute to bettering relationships with self, others and society while nurturing the capability for service and contribution to the betterment of the community.

A student in the Being the Change through the Lens workshop practicing photography skills in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Seeing the world through the lens has been a wonderful foundation for Change Agents to take ownership of their learning and apply it in everyday life. Elements of Transformative Leadership such as our moral responsibility to investigate and apply truth and seeing others as essentially noble empower youth to problem-solve and gain greater clarity while developing the capabilities of establishing justice and consultation. Recognition that each person has a part of the “truth” is essential for collective progress and creates an environment that is rich and vibrant with ideas and plans for action. Intercultural Change Agents are the “being the change” we “wish to see in the world through the lens.

Additional elements of the Transformative Leadership framework provide a clear vision and enable young people to make sense of the tremendous changes in today’s world. These include:

Student artwork expressing Transcendence created in Being the Change through the Lens workshop.

Leadership being founded on a spirit of love that is expressed through service,
Understanding that the purpose of leadership is twofold: to personally develop qualities and capabilities and to contribute to building a more just and cooperative society,
Practicing transcendence by connecting to universal values found in all world cultures and
Dedication to developing capabilities in self and others

The youth of today are endowed with incredible potential and limitless capacities, such as justice, enthusiasm, zeal, and hope.

Join us on our journey as we share what we are learning about individual and social transformation through Transformative Leadership through the lens.

If you would like to initiate a similar project and would like to interchange ideas, feel free to write to me at translead9@gmail.com. You can find the book Transformative Leadership for Youth on Amazon.

About the author

Jessica Lani Kamál Kerr is a professional photographer and artist and has over 15 years experience in community empowerment at the grassroots level of community, specifically in mentoring young people in addressing the challenges of today. She has been helping students in Northern Colorado embrace beauty in diversity through offering Transformative Leadership in neighborhoods and schools. She is also the founder of Cultivating Capacities, GSO and serves on the Intercultural Community Builders’ Board of Directors, both of which are non-profit organizations based in Northern Colorado. Jessica lives in Colorado with her husband and four children.

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