A local Chick-fil-A franchisee is working with the Columbus-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce and West Lowndes High School to bring a national leadership program to more than 40 students in Lowndes County.
Brittany Cofield came to Columbus to operate and manage the Chick-fil-A location on 18th Avenue in February 2021. This summer, she began reaching out to the West Lowndes and the chamber to facilitate local participation in the Chick-fil-A Leadership Academy, a national program that began in 2013 to teach high school students about community engagement and leadership skills through a seven-month course.
“It really gives an opportunity for the schools to have content and curriculum that is geared toward helping kids not just have an idea of how to make an impact, but really have impact through action,” Cofield said. “They also do service projects. And so it’s just kind of a neat experience to get their wheels turning for how they can make an impact even at their young age.”
Most significantly, Cofield said, the curriculum focuses on helping students think of ways to engage in their local communities in tangible ways.
“I think the investment into their development is probably the first one, leadership development specifically,” Cofield said. “When you think about their personal growth, it may be new information. That direct benefit for them is really just growing their leadership capabilities.”
The program is fully funded by Chick-fil-A Inc. and the local franchisee, who donates $700. In the course, students will meet once per month from October to April for 90 minutes to learn personal goal setting, teamwork, how to communicate in the professional world and perform a community service project as the final leg of their journey in the class.
The program will consist of up to 30 students at West Lowndes High School and 20 Lowndes Young Leaders students – a program sponsored by the chamber – and will launch at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. Cofield said the high school program has not yet secured a teacher, but the school is working to provide one for the upcoming year.
CLCC Director Cathryn Borer says the chamber and fellow co-sponsors are working to integrate the leadership academy’s program for LYL, an extracurricular leadership and community engagement club for sophomores in Lowndes County.
“The cool part about this that we’re all really excited about is that seven sessions culminate and produce actual service projects,” Borer said. “It’s something that they do, and they give back to the community. And that’s something that I feel like is lacking.”
Borer also said the program will be a big help to LYL in regard to curriculum development and will help to further cultivate how the club works and the different trips and activities those students will engage in.
WLHS principal Antonio Magee did not respond to calls and messages for comment by press time.
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