Middle School Vision: Student Leadership

Over the next few posts I plan to outline the avenues of implementation for the Middle School Vision. The first of those avenues is student leadership.


The goal of student leadership is to develop students who feel a genuine sense of competency, are vested with significant responsibility, work hard to cultivate relationships, and gain more autonomy throughout their middle school experience.

The middle school provides both programmatic and activity –based opportunities for student leadership. On a program level, we have added a leadership component to the Desired Results of Student Learning or DRSLs. Developmental Designs is based on a philosophy that seeks to nurture competency, autonomy, relationships, and fun in a middle school community. Our Athletics program works to create a sense of responsibility to team and school, while our Venture Out program makes explicit the positive characteristics of a team and a leader.

We also offer numerous extracurricular activities which work to develop leadership through a focus on service to others and scholarship. For example, our Chapel Buddy and Family projects both have students serving students. Our service learning program is based on themes which focus on our community in Greensboro. Student council, Acolytes, and 8th grade sermons are other examples of activities which serve to cultivate leaders at Canterbury.

Canterbury students go on to become leaders in their respective high schools. Over the last five years, Canterbury alumni have been valedictorians/salutatorians (there have been 5), student body presidents (3), citizenship award winners (18), and the list goes on. Leadership is embedded in Canterbury students and it shows when they leave.