Summer Leadership Program Planned for Middle and High School Students

Leadership and Community Service the Focus of Week-Long Activities


The Volunteer Center of Bergen County will be offering two sessions of a one-week summer service and leadership program for local students this summer. The program, Ready, Set, Serve, is scheduled for June 22-25 for students entering 9th or 10th grade this September, and August 31-September 3 for students entering grades 6, 7 or 8. Both sessions will be held at the Volunteer Center in Hackensack from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm daily.

Ready, Set, Serve is an exciting and challenging summer program for Bergen County students who will be immersed in a week of interactive, interesting and fun activities, learning leadership skills that will help them make a difference in their schools and communities. The focus of Ready, Set, Serve is community service. Through a state-of –the-art curriculum that includes both classroom instruction and experiential training, students will participate in challenging exercises including community needs analysis, goal setting, team building, project planning, decision making and other dynamic leadership skills.

The Ready, Set, Serve experience continues beyond the one week in summer. Participants will continue to meet monthly from September through March to discuss and work on individual or group service projects. A graduation and project presentation will be held in conjunction with the Volunteer Center’s Celebrate Volunteers recognition event in April 2016.

“The ultimate purpose of Ready, Set, Serve is to help create stronger communities - and a stronger nation - by igniting in young people the ability and desire to make meaningful, lifelong contributions to their communities,” says Debbie Emery, Community Volunteer Services Director at the Volunteer Center. “Students participating in this program will have a great activity to add to their high school applications, as well as service hours they can use to meet requirements of schools and religious institutions.”

The fee to attend this program is $350 per student, which includes all class materials, snacks, beverages and lunch on the Friday closing session. Students provide their own lunch the other days. The deadline for application is May 31. Tuition can be paid online by clicking here. Call 201-489-9454 Ext. 118 or email demery@bergenvolunteers.org for more information or to obtain an application.