Change makers: A look at the Hamm Leadership Program
Students in the Charles J. Hamm ’55 Leadership Program take on the world.
On a hot morning in late July, 14 students sporting shorts and T-shirts clamber through the arched doorway into Academy Building 129. They enter solo and in small groups, chatting, and take their seats at the room’s round Harkness table. It’s the midpoint of Exeter Summer’s Hamm Leadership Program, an immersive two-course sequence, and these students exhibit the comfortable ease that comes from many hours spent working together in class and on projects.
Having prepared for class with an in-depth reading of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” they lean in toward the table’s center, ready to share ideas about King’s strengths as a leader. Short excerpts from the letter are written on whiteboards that circle the room: “The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.” … “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” … “I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.”
A soft-spoken Greek student launches discussion with a question for his peers: “Do you think extremism is beneficial?” From the Navajo Nation to China, California and Brazil, these classmates span the globe, offering insights as diverse as their experiences.
Leadership in a complex age
Celebrating its 10th year in 2018, the Hamm Leadership Program teaches rising 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders about ethical leadership, with a dual focus on theory and practical skills.
“Some of the students have experience as leaders back home; others do not, but they all want to learn more about it and develop their leadership skills,” explains Elena Gosalvez-Blanco, director of Exeter Summer, who selects students for the program with an eye to engaging as many different perspectives as possible. In 2017, participants came from 11 countries, and more than half received financial aid.
“The biggest surprise for many students is that leadership is something you can learn,” says Tanya Judd Pucella, who has taught in the program for the past eight years and teaches leadership at Marietta College during the regular school year.
Using selected writings by Winston Churchill, King, Machiavelli and others, students discuss leadership traits, followership, situational leadership, and power and influence. They focus explicitly on inclusiveness in leadership, including the influences of culture and gender.
The practical skills seminar guides students through a progression from self-discovery (using personality tests and emotional intelligence surveys), to studies of group dynamics and the interplay of the group and the individual. By session’s end, students develop their own personal leadership philosophy. Along the way, they take advantage of many opportunities to practice essential skills including public speaking, conflict resolution, goal setting, facilitation and team management. The five-week program culminates in a capstone project where teams of three and four develop and implement a project of their own design that promotes social change at Exeter.