“The lack of leadership training,” wrote Kenneth Klemm, a senior at Butler (N.J.) High School, “is most apparent in our schools and communities where students are required to assume leadership roles without being prepared for them.”
That opinion notwithstanding, Mr. Klemm has been named “the nation’s outstanding future leader” by the Century III Leaders program sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and funded by the Shell Oil Company.
He was selected from among 300,000 seniors nationwide, 102 of whom spent five days in Williamsburg, Va., recently, competing for the $10,000 scholarship that Mr. Klemm won.
The purpose of the Century III Leaders program, its sponsors say, is to “inspire America’s youth to become involved in community and social issues, to assume leadership roles, to explore their responsibilities as adults, and to explore America’s past, the issues confronted today, and the direction America is to take in the future.”
While in Williamsburg, two students from each state and the District of Columbia participated in seminars, a town meeting, and a mock session of the colonial Virginia House of Burgesses to discuss social, economic, and political issues and to draft recommendations for President Reagan on how the United States should deal with these issues.
A six-member selection committee observed the students in action for several days and selected the winner and nine runners-up.
All 102 semifinalists received $1,500 scholarships; the nine runners-up received an additional $500.
The Century III Leaders program evolved from a program initated in 1976 to observe the nation’s Bicentennial. In 1980, an “alumni program’’ was also launched, enabling previous Century III Leaders to apply for grants in their college senior year, for postgraduate study or research, or at any time in their lives, as long as the program continues.
The national runners-up are Natalie M. Hanlon, Cherry Creek High School, Englewood, Colo.; Jeffrey Schneider, Walter Johnson High School, Bethesda, Md.; Sandra Decker, Marian High School, Birmingham, Mich.; Julie Seifert, Park Hill High School, Kansas City, Mo.; William Whyman, Rumson-Fairhaven High School, Rumson, N.J.; Laura Gomez, Valley High School, Albuquerque, N.M.; Jay A. Everette, Hoggard High School, Wilmington, N.C.; Daena J. Goldsmith, Redmond High School, Redmond, Ore.; Darren W. Lynde, Campbell County High School, Gillette, Wyo.
