Eli Aronson   A couple of weeks ago at gathering, we were introduced to Latin’s Leadership Committee. I had never heard of it, and neither had many of my peers. I asked freshman Megan Lorenz if she had ever heard of the Leadership Committee before their announcement and she said it “sounds familiar but no.” When the leadership committee was first presented at gathering several students in the audience scoffed. Senior Charlie Moss questions the Leadership Committee and wonders “what criteria someone needs to fulfill to be a part of the leadership committee?” He also thinks that “just because you’re in a leadership committee doesn’t mean you’re a leader.” To help answer some of these questions, I decided to dig deeper into our mysterious Leadership Committee at Latin. I went to Mr. Cronister, our Director of Student Life, to learn more about it. He told me that when he first heard about the theme of this school year, he wanted to find a way students could show what they think leadership means to them.  So, at the beginning of the school year, he made an announcement to returning students in the Upper School and Middle school about his idea of Leadership Committee.   Mr. Cronister anticipated about five to ten kids joining the committee. Instead, twenty seven people responded to Mr. Cronister showing interest. So Mr. Cronister adjusted his idea and instead of one big Leadership Committee, he decided to make subcommittees. The four subcommittees address publicity, Roman of the Week, assembly, and leadership workshops. The people in the publicity subcommittee are in charge of posting stuff on social media or just spreading the word throughout the school about the Leadership Committee. Those in Roman of the Week are in charge of finding a leader at Latin that not a lot of people recognize as a leader.  Rather than picking a captain of a sports team or a member of student council, they look for small acts of leadership and someone who is an overall good citizen. They reward that person by announcing they’re the “Roman of the Week.” The assembly subcommittee thinks of ways to incorporate leadership into everyday gatherings or assemblies. Lastly, the workshop committee is responsible for putting together an assembly period in the spring where there are workshops put together about leadership in various places such as politics, sports, or a workplace. The principal idea of the workshops is based off the workshops that teachers run on Martin Luther King day at school, but instead of teachers organizing the events, students are in charge of running them. The people in the four subcommittees are all in charge of their specific title, but are also allowed to help with other subcommittees. Mr. Cronister knew that no matter how many people joined Leadership Committee, there would be some, especially upperclassmen, who weren’t fond of the idea of Leadership Committee. “Whenever something new is added it is going to receive criticism”.  He compared the beginning of the Leadership Committee to the start of the Roman to Roman program; when that was first created, upperclassmen were also not too fond of it either. Mr. Cronister tries to focus in on those who are interested in leadership, instead of those who would rather make mockery of it. “If twenty-seven people were interested, something has to be good about it,” he said.  Mr. Cronister has done a great job making clear that those twenty-seven are in control of how the rest of the school thinks about the committee, along with what leadership can mean at Latin. Mr. Cronister wanted to make it clear that his role in leadership committee is to guide and help if needed and let students think and do the work. An example of something that students are accountable for is bringing in speakers to talk about leadership or contacting facilities. Even though Leadership Committee was brought in because of this school year’s theme, there is a good chance that Leadership Committee will continue next year. So, if any of this sounds interesting to you, feel free to contact Mr. Cronister as he is always willing to take on more members for Leadership Committee.  ]]>