Thanks to scholarships from Shell Oil Company and Motiva Norco Refinery, three St. John Parish students joined other high school students from across the state at a six-day youth leadership camp. The three in-coming seniors from SJBP — Lester Rainey III from West St. John High School and Bianca Cook and Raquel Romero from East St. John High School — experienced college campus life at Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge at the 41st Annual Louisiana Youth Seminar while also gaining valuable leadership skills. The camp’s theme this year was “Fast Track to Leadership.”

During their week at LYS, the high schoolers were separated into different groups (i.e., “Pace Cars,” “Finish Lines,” “Steering Wheels,”…). Daily activities began early each morning and culminated late each evening with the singing of the LYS theme songs, “I Won’t Let Go” and “No Man is an Island” and the LYS Cheer. A reception was held at the end of the camp in order for the scholarship recipients to meet with a representative of Shell/Motiva to thank him/her and to share their week’s experiences at LYS.

The Louisiana Youth Seminar was established in 1971 as a summer leadership camp for high school students. Every year the seminar is held at Louisiana State University for one week in July. During this week, students participate in many activities, which focus on leadership skills, such as effective communication skills, setting and achieving goals, team building, understanding and accepting others, developing self confidence, conducting effective meetings and problem solving skills. The goal of LYS is to develop students’ raw leadership potential into skills that will help them to succeed as leaders, whether in business, government or the nonprofit arena. LYS delegates meet interesting people from across the state, learn how to achieve life goals and compete in good-natured yet challenging projects. LYS enhances the leadership potential in each individual and provides leadership opportunities through hands-on experience.