Leadership Academy
The ECOC Leadership Academy is designed to enhance students’ leadership capabilities, confidence, and ability to pursue higher education and career opportunities.
Leadership Academy serves 15 cohorts of students across five school districts in Colorado Springs, including Districts 2, 3, 8, 11, 20, and 49.
Student participants, called Student Ambassadors, are nominated by counselors, teachers, and administrators from selected middle and high schools.
Student Ambassadors meet monthly with their college mentor and address topics including constitutional rights, higher education financial aid and scholarships, communication skills, grit and perseverance, the distinctions between institutions of higher learning, and how to write a college essay or scholarship application.
Additionally, ambassadors and mentors within the Leadership Academy cohort identify, plan, and complete a service-learning project that embodies their cohort and the impact they want to have on the community.
Each year, student ambassadors attend The Educating Children of Color Summit, where they play a key role in introducing our presenters, explore college and career pathways, and are eligible to win thousands of dollars in scholarships.
Leadership Academy Mentors
The LA scholars meet monthly with college mentors from Colorado College, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak State College, University of Colorado-Boulder, and Colorado State University-Pueblo.
Our college mentors received mandatory reporter training, implicit bias training and socioemotional awareness training. They also earned certificates in QPR (suicide prevention) and Stop the Bleed (increasing their ability to recognize life-threatening bleeding and intervene effectively).
90%
Student Ambassadors indicate that they would be pursuing higher education upon completion of high school
93%
reported an increase in leadership and communication skills because of their participation in Leadership Academy
80%
of Leadership Academy students reported being more empowered to overcome setbacks and achieve goals
