Siegfried Youth Leadership Program, a collaborative effort between The Siegfried Group, LLP, the University of Delaware’s Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, and Junior Achievement of Delaware recently brought a unique hybrid live-stream assembly to four Delaware schools.
“We know that students, along with the rest of the world, are growing tired of virtual interactions,” said Amy Devlin, vice president at Siegfried. “After hosting a fully virtual program last year, we knew we wanted to change it up this time around for our tenth program.”
On October 20, Siegfried’s Amy Devlin, Kevin Keegan, and Brendah Walyemwa acted as live presenters at four Delaware high schools: Las Americas ASPIRA Academy, Paul M. Hodgson, Mount Pleasant, and Smyrna. They, along with representatives from CEEE and JA, facilitated four 80-minute live assemblies. These live assemblies also included a real-time, virtual, and interactive guest speaker keynote by Juan Bendaña.
“A lot of people have treated the last 18 months as a ‘waiting room,'” said Bendaña, speaker, author, DJ, and the founder of the 100 Day Playbook. “They said, ‘I’m going to wait for things to get better and I’ll put myself out there and continue to pursue those goals after the world goes back to normal,'” said Bendaña. “We are all making excuses, but just because the world has been closed doesn’t mean we need to be.”
This hybrid assembly featured speakers who spoke about individual leadership topics and incorporated related activities and lessons that teachers can use to further engage students in and out of the classroom.
“My biggest takeaway from SYLP today is that a lot of people experience the same things, like being shy and speaking out, but there’s a lot you can do to feel more confident,” said a student from Las Americas ASPIRA Academy.
“One insight from today is: be kind to yourself”, said Kevin Keegan, senior vice president and regional market director at Siegfried. “One student said, ‘I’m my own toughest critic.'”
Siegfried’s CEO and founder, Rob Siegfried, said, “SYLP was inspired by my daughter and her belief that I could share something with younger generations,” said Siegfried. “I want to impress on this group the importance of personal leadership to find something inspiring, a personal passion, and use it to lead a purposeful and fulfilling future.”
Wilmington-based Siegfried is a leadership organization that provides financial executives with leadership advisory, talent delivery, and financial advisory services.
