Youth Programs

Youth Program Manager
Position Announcement

The Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership is seeking applicants to be Youth Program Manager in the summer of 2012 for its College and High School Leaders Programs.

Both programs are residential at the University of Virginia. The College Leaders Program runs for four weeks from May 26 to June 23, 2012, while the High School Leaders Program runs from July 7 to 21.

Desirable Qualifications are: effective time management skills; a high degree of organization; the ability to work with high school and college students in a residential and classroom setting; knowledge of Virginia government and politics; significant peer leadership experience; experience working in a peer-to-peer counseling setting; strong written and oral communication abilities; and excellent human relations skills.  Applicants must hold a bachelor's degree by the program start date.

The regular positions will run from May 22 to July 22, 2012. During the program, youth program managers will be required to live in residence with the students every night and work on average 6 days a week, with some vacation between the two programs. There will be some limited work requirements for recruitment and review of applications starting in February 2012. Program Coordinators will receive room and board with the students during the programs in addition to a $3,250 stipend.

Applications should include a current resume and relevant references, in addition to a brief letter explaining why the applicant is interested in the position. Letters of reference are welcome, but not required.

Please submit all materials to Lauren Gilbert, Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, P.O. Box 400206, Charlottesville, VA 22904

Questions and applications can be directed to Lauren Gilbert at lauren.gilbert@virginia.edu or (434) 243-2844.  Applications must be submitted by January 30, 2012 for consideration.  Applicants will be contacted to arrange an interview.

JOB DESCRIPTION - YOUTH PROGRAM COORDINATOR
$3,250 plus room and board during program

A. The full time position runs from May 22 to July 22, 2012.
B. Be in residence at the University of Virginia at all times when students are in the dorms with one day off each week.
C. Assist in the daily operations of the programs - supervise students during the day, be on call certain evenings to assist students, etc.
D. Travel with the programs on all field trips.
E. Advise students in preparation of their culminating project as outlined in program materials. Oversee at least one student research group.
F. Provide administrative support during the program - help with coordination of activities, contact with speakers, development of culminating project groups, evening activities.
G. Coordinate social events for the students in the programs.
H. Provide reasonable assistance to the Sorensen Institute in the recruitment and selection of program participants.
I. Assist in evaluating students completing the CLP or HSLP for academic credit.
J. Other tasks necessary for the operation of the programs as requested by the Sorensen Institute's staff.

High School Leaders Program
Day 14 - July 22, 2011
Reported by: Anna Paden Carson, Patrick Henry High School and Daniel Aboagye, Colonial Forge High School

It is so sad that today was our last full day at the Sorensen Institute. The 27 of us have become so close over these past two weeks, and I have no doubt that many of us will cry when it comes time for goodbyes tomorrow.
This morning we all got up early to prepare for our culminating project presentations. At 8 a.m., the hallways of our dorms were filled with chaos. All of the five groups were making last-minute tweaks to their presentations and coming up with the perfect “business professional” outfit. Everyone gathered downstairs at 9:15 a.m. to walk over to the Rotunda together. All the groups were clearly nervous. People were counting to make sure they had all of their note cards, asking everyone how their outfits looked and doing some last-minute shoe shining.

The 27 of us got to the Rotunda at approximately 9:30 am. There were about 50 chairs set up with a podium at the front of the room. We all waited for 30 long, arduous minutes for the panel to arrive and take their seats. The panel judges included Del. Joe Morrissey, Del. David Toscano, Bob Gibson and our teachers Steve Bragaw and Marc Johnson.

Each group had a 10-minute presentation followed 10-minute question-and-answer period. All of the five groups did extremely well, explaining their proposition thoroughly and speaking with poise. The panel responded well to each groups’ proposal and respected all of the groups’ obvious hard work. The presentations, in total, took two hours, and then the 27 participants in the 2011 High School Leaders Program were free to run wild.

Please note: by "running wild", we of course mean napping, dancing, singing, eating and watching "The West Wing"! Everyone took the afternoon off, relaxed and enjoyed the air conditioning on this extremely hot day.
At 5 p.m., everyone got dressed up for a celebratory dinner at Baja Bean. Earlier in the day, all of us were asked to fill out a survey nominating others for superlatives like "most likely to become governor", "most likely to switch parties", etc. At dinner, every person received a superlative describing them personally.

After dinner back at Bice House, everyone had to start to clean their suite. People were running to all of the rooms, trying desperately to find the right number of bowls to turn in to the Youth Program Managers. Tonight, in true Sorensen fashion, we will have a rave in the basement.

It has been an honor to be a part of the Sorensen High School Leaders Program. We have enjoyed these two weeks immensely and will miss all of our fellow classmates. Thank you all for such an amazing experience, and we hope we will cross paths again in the future!  

High School Leaders Program
Day 13 - Thursday, July 21
Reported by: Irene Koo, Deep Run High School and Victor Reczkowski, Patrick Henry High School

Today was our final full day of class. After briefly discussing the previous day’s visit to Richmond and Tuesday’s Budget Game, Dr. Bragaw made the focus of the rest of the class a reexamination of what we have been discussing over the past two weeks. We discovered some of the confounding questions confronting our policymakers today and how ideas in the world of policy-making have consequences... and not always good ones. What is the American Dream, and how does it affect us?

After a lunch from Chick-fil-A we had our first speaker of the day, David Rexrode, Head of the Virginia Republican Party. He recounted his experiences in the world campaigning as early as his sophomore year in college. He did not intend to make politics a career, but one job led to another until he found himself working for the Republican National Committee. Mr. Rexrode helped lead the party to its big successes in 2009 and 2010 and is very optimistic about the party’s fortunes moving forward in the Commonwealth and around the nation.

As the High School Leaders Program for 2011 came to a close, the class also voted on who would be our speaker at graduation. The final two were Daniel Aboagye and Griffin Spencer, with Daniel eventually winning by one vote. The whole class is excited to hear him speak this Saturday about his experience at Sorensen. Also approaching soon is each policy group’s presentation to a panel (which includes Sen. Creigh Deeds, Del. Joe Morissey and our two professors) tomorrow. As preparation for the Q&A portion of the presentation, we heard today from Adam Rhew, a reporter for NBC29 and a journalism and political science major. He asked each group various questions and gave pointers on the best way to appear confident and knowledgeable in front of the legislators.

Tonight, all the policy groups will be doing a practice presentation in front of the youth program managerss in preparation for the real presentation tomorrow. The evening will be filled with a lot of work and last-minute practice runs, with everyone hoping to present their policy proposal successfully. After having so much fun and making so many amazing friends over the past two weeks, we all feel some sadness about the program ending, as well as anxiety about the culminating project. Everyone is definitely looking forward to tomorrow afternoon and the celebratory dinner, as bittersweet as the last day may be.
 

High School Leaders Program
Day 12- Wednesday, July 20th
Reported by: Raleigh Matteo, Maggie L. Walker Governor's School and Julian Tamayo, McLean High School

Today we took a road trip to the beautiful city of Richmond, Va. We were downstairs waiting for the bus at 6:45 a.m. Most of us slept on the hour and a half bus ride, sleep that was much needed after an exhausting night of working on our projects.

We arrived at the capitol around 9:30 a.m. and were treated to a wonderful tour. The new edition of the Capitol is well-designed and tasteful. Along our tour we had an unexpected encounter with Gov. Bob McDonnell and were lucky enough to be able to get a picture with him. After that we were guided to the House Chamber, where we had the pleasure of listening to two distinguished delegates, Del. Chris Peace (R-Mechanicsville) and Del. Jenn McClellan (D-Richmond). They both spoke of their experience with politics and elections.

After a delectable, catered lunch from a local sandwich place, we all sat in anticipation for the slew of high-profile speakers. The composition of the speaker schedule was very much in tune with the Capitol building environment. Many of the speakers had impromptu meetings or other pressing matters to attend. Therefore, the day did not go exactly as planned. All in all, we heard from Paul Brockwell (VPAP), Del. Joe Morrissey (D-Highland Springs), Tucker Martin (McDonnell's communications director), two legislative aides and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling. Despite the fact that today had a long list of speakers, the speakers were very captivating and energetic. We got back on the bus around 3:30 p.m., and Joe Stanley popped in a movie for all of us to enjoy. However, most of us quickly fell asleep after a long day walking around the Capitol.

The daunting culminating project work was looming over us as we got back to Bice. Some of us ate a quick dinner and got right to work, but others decided to relax either in our apartments or out on grounds. The final reports are due tomorrow, and yet the general consensus is that we are all prepared and proud to turn in our proposed legislation. Tomorrow is also our last day of class, which is bittersweet to say the least. This program is quite unlike regular school in that, by the end, everyone is saddened by the prospect of leaving. We only have a couple days left and we intend to make the most of them.

High School Leaders Program
Day 11 - Tuesday, July 19
Reported by: Patrick Bond, Monticello High School

Today was an application of many of the theories that we have been learning for the past two weeks. We now know what the General Assembly has to do every two years to balance the budget, and it isn’t easy. Fierce debates raged in the lecture halls of U.Va. over whether spending cuts or tax increases were the best option to close Virginia’s hypothetical $1 billion deficit. Today we played The Budget Game.

9-9:30 a.m.: The students arrive at Robertson Hall ready to face the problems that will test us throughout this full-day exercise. We are ready to face the same scenarios that many of the legislators in Richmond have faced. Professor Bragaw splits our class of 27 into two houses, the House of Delegates and the Senate.

9:30 a.m. - noon: The House and Senate split and go into different lecture rooms. We are issued our packets of options for the proposed state budget and get the challenging task underway. In the House of Delegates, we began at page one and worked our way through the tedious proposal, making significant cuts across the board and raising the state sales tax by half a percent. After heated debates (but thankfully no personal attacks), the House reached a consensus and was allowed to go eat lunch (a contributing factor to the consensus). The Senate had reached their budget proposal a lot faster than the House, probably because there were 19 delegates and only eight senators. Now it was time to split into two committees with four senators and 15 delegates to try to reach a consensus between both houses.

1-3 p.m.: In Committee One, there was overwhelming cooperation between the two houses. Unfortunately, the same thing did not happen in Committee Two, where there was deadlock and unwavering ideas, especially on the issues of Medicaid and state parks. Finally after long hours of negotiations, both committees returned to battle it out over the two proposed budgets. Thankfully, there was no battle between the two committees, but high amounts of support instead. We had passed a state budget, with a surplus of $1 million.

The big lessons of the day were the importance of cooperation and compromise. As the Rolling Stones once wrote, “You can’t always get what you want, but...you’ll get what you need.” Today’s lesson was definitely an important one; you can’t get things done, especially in politics, if you are not willing to compromise. 

High School Leaders Program
Day 10 - Monday, July 18
Reported by: Alec Shobe, Maggie Walker Governor's School; Caroline Crabtree, Douglas Southall Freeman High School; Irene Koo; Deep Run High School

After a relaxing weekend filled by casual attire, women’s soccer, extra sleep and a little bit of magic, the HSLP group made the walk back up to Robertson Hall on Monday morning for the start of a new week of classes. After Professor Bragaw’s morning lecture on the differences between policy entrepreneurship and policy analysis, the students broke up into groups to talk about bringing green jobs into the hypothetical city whose mayor they were advising.

After Bodo’s for lunch, the students heard Del. Rob Bell (R-58th) speak and answer questions on their respective policy projects. This was a helpful experience for most of the policy groups until the group originally focused on taxation was horrified when the delegate informed them that their original proposal was unconstitutional.

After Rob Bell, April Auger came to teach us about professionalism and fashion in the workplace. After learning which colors are appropriate for interviews, the students decided that mustaches are not looked upon as professional in the workplace.

Waldo Jaquith then taught about the role of VPAP in opening government to the public. He also spoke about the importance of technology in making governmental information open to the public.

Next, Hassan Abdelhalim spoke about his previous experiences in the College Leaders Program. He and his classmate Emily Bowles were successful in passing their bill on teen dating violence. He walked the students through the process and illuminated certain paths to follow.

After their last speaker, the students returned to Bice House and ate Mellow Mushroom’s pizza for dinner. The fun was short-lived as many groups had an extensive 25-page policy paper to finish by the next morning. As this blog post is being written at midnight, some groups are still hard at work trying to finish their proposals while the other groups are celebrating their completion. As the groups start returning to their suites to obey the slightly extended curfew, they all wonder what will become of the taxation group. Only time will tell. 

High School Leaders Program
Day 9 - Sunday, July 17
Reported by: Lauren Marshall, Douglas Southall Freeman High School

Today Sorensen students made a monumental switch from up and coming political leaders to the average teenagers. We slept in for the first time all week. Then we bonded while watching the FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals.

After exploring the wonder that is the Charlottesville public transportation system, Sorensen students viewed the final movie of the popular Harry Potter series. Some students were satisfied by the new Harry Potter movie, while others were inexplicably disappointed.

Upon return to Bice House, the class feasted on Chipotle deliciousness and caught the tail end of Women’s World Cup, then ventured out to celebrate National Ice Cream Day at Baskin-Robbins on The Corner.

As I write this, policy groups are meeting to work on our proposals. As with any potentially productive period of time, our study groups have once again devolved into a quasi-karaoke dance party starring Malcolm Lee, Lauren Marshall and Emily Irwin. Win.

High School Leaders Program
Day 7 - Friday, July 15
Reported by: Ryan Deal, First Colonial High School

Today marked the beginning of several different phases of our Sorensen experience. We started off our Friday classes with a review of current issues facing our wonderful Commonwealth. As would be expected, this rapidly turned into a lively debate regarding the positive or negative impacts of SOL testing for students. The different views about teacher accountability and rote memorization overwhelmed the minds of everyone present and eliminated the preconceptions that all students are categorically against standardized testing.

After what seemed like a couple of days, we halted this conversation and did some research on the Senate campaign, which is beginning to heat up. The two presumed candidates are former Governors Kaine and Allen. The class was able to recognize the necessary campaign strategies for each side to succeed come November 2012.

We then had the opportunity to present the preliminary sections of our policy proposals to our classmates. Each group seems to have an idea that could drastically improve the state of our Commonwealth. The issue areas of taxation, voting rights, civil rights, environment and education each pose their own unique challenges. They also offer creative opportunities for us to think beyond our world today and look toward a better and brighter future.

Beginning at 2 p.m., we welcomed Dr. Stephen Bragaw into our lives and into our hearts. We spent a good portion of the class discussing how the U.S. government didn't have any money. We reviewed a good portion of U.S. political history, especially analyzing specific elections of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. We also got to discuss past U.S. economics and philosophies to analyze how exactly we got to this point and what we can do about it. This concluded our day and our first full week of the High School Leaders Program. 

High School Leaders Program
Day 6 - Thursday, July 14
Reported by: Dana Raphael, Washington Lee High School

Today we had class with Mr. Johnson and discussed the structure of Virginia state government. We commenced the day by analyzing the Virginia Constitution, with the purpose of revision. Our Constitution has not been revised in forty years, since 1971. In groups we proposed and voted on amendments to the Constitution. Some legalized gay marriage, re-enfranchised ex-convicts and extended the term of governor.

After lunch we were privileged to speak to Bob Sayler, author of “Tongue-Tied America.” He gave a fantastic lecture on the degradation of the art of speaking, especially among youth. In a digital age, people are spending less time talking and more time sending electronic messages. Mr. Sayler informed us that teens spent nearly half of their waking hours utilizing an electronic device.

Later in the afternoon, we used the information we gained from Mr. Sayler in a debate. Our classmates debated the structures of the Virginia governmental system. Personally, I have never been exposed to debate, so today was a new and fantastic experience for me. We also gave presentations on the structures of government, such as the judicial system and the office of governor.

Dinner was Chinese food, followed by intense work sessions. In fact I’m writing in a frantic panic right now, as 80 pages of reading and two presentations are due tomorrow. Who needs sleep? Despite the large workload, we are learning a lot of critical information and this program is a fantastic introduction to college.