During a roundtable at the Siegfried Youth Leadership Program (SYLP) held at the University of Delaware’s Clayton Hall in October, high school students discussed how they could become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Christian Cobb, a student at Howard High School, mentioned entering an EntreX Lab competition held at UD last spring and presenting in front of judges for the first time. Dover High School student La’Niyah Robinson-King noted that she was currently onstage in front of the nearly 300 middle and high school students in attendance, despite her struggles with public speaking. Gunnar Russo, a student at Devon Prep, said he’d recently started a business and was inspired to make additional cold calls, even though his first call ended poorly.

The roundtable answers gave a glimpse into just a few of the students’ takeaways from an interactive day of individual leadership development, entrepreneurship and thoughtful reflection.

The Siegfried Group, an entrepreneurial leadership advisory organization founded by Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics alumnus Rob Siegfried, sponsors the semiannual event in partnership with Lerner’s Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship and Horn Entrepreneurship. SYLP helps young people develop leadership skills, enriching their lives and inspiring positive change in their communities. The event was the 16th on UD’s campus since SYLP was founded in 2016.

“This is a powerful event that brings youth from Delaware to invest in themselves and make sure that, as they do so, they can also create positive change around them,” said Carlos Asarta, the James B. O’Neill Director of CEEE. “We thank Rob and Kathy Siegfried for their support and significant impact on secondary school leadership, entrepreneurship and economic education in the state.”

Megan Davis, Siegfried’s director of brand and communications, and Dylan Gerstley, a content creator for the company, opened the day by welcoming the entire group of students and teachers with a session about personal leadership. Davis said that people must become better leaders of themselves before they can lead teams, companies or businesses. 

“That means taking responsibility for who you are, what you bring to the table, and how you show up every day,” she said.

Once people can inspire and motivate themselves, it’s easier to get other people to follow along on the journey, Davis said. 

“When you’re becoming a better individual leader, that hard work is moving you out of your comfort zone, which is where a lot of us tend to stay because it’s comfortable,” she said. “But when you move outside that comfort zone, that’s where you start to grow and change.”

Students attended breakout sessions focusing on entrepreneurship, critical thinking, leadership and creativity before reassembling to hear a keynote presentation from Markevis Gideon, a local entrepreneur and founder and owner of NERDiT NOW.

Gideon spoke about the process of starting and growing his business. He hit on several key pieces of advice, including identifying core values, focusing on possibilities over probabilities, not letting others impose their limitations on you, not fearing competition but seeking cooperation, embracing mentorship, and paying it forward.

Gideon then joined students onstage for a panel discussion in which they shared their biggest insights from the event, talked about the people in their lives who could support them achieving their dreams, and elaborated on their next steps when they returned to school.

“My main takeaway would be the importance of change in leadership and life in general. I feel like you need to be embracing change at all times and learning from every single mistake you make in order to become a better person,” Russo, the Devon Prep student, said.

Robinson-King, from Dover High School, said students need others to help them achieve their goals and dreams, and that “you can’t let fear and what others think limit you and what you can do.”

Emerson Wright, a student at Woodbridge High School, echoed those thoughts near the conclusion of the roundtable.

“I need to not let other people and their opinions shape my dreams,” she said. “I think I need to stop worrying about what they think, commit to what I want to do, and just go for it.”

The day’s events were meaningful for teachers as well.

“This event is very impactful,” said Karen Knight, a teacher at The Bayard School in Wilmington. “Just being here and listening to these children talk about their goals at such a young age, and then watching them get up onstage to say ‘these are the steps I want to take to get there’ is very inspiring. This platform made them feel confident enough to get up and speak, so I think this program is really wonderful.”