ML student headed to National Youth Leadership Forum

MOSES LAKE — Is it the chance of a lifetime? Time will tell, but Moses Lake sophomore Savannah Strunk-Gonzales intends to make the best of her opportunity to build new relationships, make new contacts and think outside the box with some of the most promising high school students from around the country when she attends the eight-day National Youth Leadership Forum at Stanford University next week.

The program provides high school students a foundation in business and the skills to lead the next innovation revolution through interactive start-up style simulation, hands-on workshops, seminars and site visits.

“The thing I’m most excited about is meeting new people. I love meeting new people, learning about where they come from, to hear their stories,” said Strunk-Gonzales, who carried a 3.5 grade point average last year as a freshman at Moses Lake High School. “I think you go into something like this being who you are, providing what you know and learning from the whole experience.”

The program focuses on business ideation, personal leadership, and career opportunities in business across industries. Teams of students will get hands-on experience facing challenges they will confront in the future through a competitive start-up simulation that allows them to create the next great idea and take on new challenges.

“I think we can change the world,” she said. “My definition of leadership is about helping people and listening and providing the right direction. Leadership is about including others in the decision-making process. You can always learn from others, to see things from a different light, and pass that on. It’s important to involve everyone.”

The National Leadership Youth Forum is part of the Envision family of programs. Since 1985, Envision programs have served more than 800,000 in more than 145 different countries with programs designed to help students develop the leadership, scholarship and career skills needed to succeed in today’s competitive college and career landscape.

Even though Strunk-Gonzales is just a high school sophomore, she will receive college credit for her attendance. She will be developing a business plan and take part in a group “Shark Tank” exercise to demonstrate the skills she’ll learn at the Forum.

“This will involve people from all over the country, so I’m really looking forward to that,” she said. “I feel really honored to be able to represent Washington and the smaller cities.”

It takes all kinds to change the world, one thought at a time, and Strunk-Gonzales from Moses Lake will be among the students from around the country trying to come up with the next great idea.