Lorraine Connell

Connell’s innovative teaching program, “Peer Leadership,” is a credit bearing course open to students in their later years of HS. The students apply for the peer leadership positions and are evaluated by the diversity they bring to the program. Once selected, the students are trained on team building, class facilitation, content delivery, and community focus. Peer Leaders work collaboratively with each other, administration, faculty and the greater student body to create a student-delivered curriculum to the current freshman. They are matched with freshmen in an effort to foster personal, educational, ethical, and moral growth in both populations. While the program helps develop a positive school culture, it also gives seniors and juniors valuable leadership experiences while helping freshmen and sophomores with the transition from the sending schools into the John Stark community.