SJIHM student attends leadership conference

Eric Shumaker, a sixth-grade student at St. Joseph and Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Austintown, attended the National Young Leaders State Conference last weekend in Columbus.

He was nominated by his reading teacher, Kathy Villella, to take part in this four-day leadership development program offered by the Congressional Youth Leadership Council.

The conference inspired Shumaker and other young scholars to assess their own strengths and unique abilities as they built a working “toolkit” of skills “to help them successfully dream, create and implement plans that will change how they view their role as leaders in their communities.”

This year’s theme, Courageous Leadership, challenged attendees “to step forward in a manner that is decisive and confident, to grasp the concept of leadership that will be taught, and to act upon their dreams of making a difference in the world while maintaining the courage of their convictions.”