“My favorite part of NDLA is the middle school leadership conference where you go to SNC for a day and conduct various activities geared toward leadership for Grace school middle schoolers. It’s overall loads of fun, and it is always great to interact with new people under a common goal of developing leadership skills,” said sophomore Max Janick.
NDLA stands for Notre Dame Leadership Academy, a group of individuals who are interested in learning how to be good leaders and want to teach others how to be good leaders.
English teacher Jamie Danen started working with a group of 12 students before she worked at NDA. They worked on leadership development and reached out to local GRACE middle school students to develop their leadership skills as well.
The following year Danen was hired by NDA, and she developed NDLA into a school-wide club and invited everyone who was interested to join the club.
NDLA meets twice a month and does various activities to grow leadership skills.
The students also plan, develop and run a yearly leadership conference for GRACE 7th and 8th graders.
This year was the fourth year of the conference, and NDLA had over 250 students attend, 26 of them NDA leaders..
“I went to the NDLA meeting to meet new people and learn how to be a better leader in my community and school,” said Nolan Larson, an 8th grader.
The conference is a chance for middle schoolers to work together learning about leadership and working to become better leaders but It is also a chance for them to meet other students and see what it would be like to be a part of the NDLA community when they come to high school.
“It was great! We had Ali Starr as our keynote speaker,and she did a great job exciting the kids about leadership and teaching them how to be their best advocates,” said Danen.
This year they had a lot of exciting break-out sessions on leadership skills and a wonderful day in community with everyone.
“I have been a part of NDLA for two years now, and I can first-handly say the tightly-knit community at NDLA offers constant support and encouragement. I have learned so much about myself and about others through the program, and I know that its commitment to integrity and collaboration has truly molded my character,” said Janick.
