Oak Mountain students to host Shelby County Schools leadership conference

Oak Mountain High School’s student government association will be hosting the annual Shelby County Schools Student Leadership Program conference this year.

The event, now in its fifth year, will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sept. 13 at Valleydale Church.

Program Director John Milton said the idea for the conference was sparked when he noticed, after returning from a similar conference, that most leadership programs in the area only allowed schools to send around six kids to participate.

He wanted to create an event that allowed schools to send 30 to 40 kids, not just the top leaders of the school, and challenge each kid to learn and grow. 

The first year, the SGA raised enough money to fund the event on their own, but for the last two years the conference has been entirely funded by Shelby County Schools.

This year, the conference is partnering with the Chick-fil-A Leader Academy for the first time. 

“We had a good program in place and they had a good program in place, so it was a natural partnership,” John said. “We are taking the best of what we do and the best of what they do and making it a great conference for the students.”

While the conference will only last one day, students will be able to continue learning and building leadership skills, Milton said. Each teacher will be provided with a leadership curriculum of online resources and bi-weekly lesson plans. 

To learn more, visit omsga.com/leadership.