The NLS Curriculum

Since 2002, Nebraska Leadership Seminar has taught Nebraska youth about strengths-based leadership and civic responsibility.  In 2011, we introduced a new curriculum to make these subjects even more engaging and approachable.  NLS focuses on four themes, or questions, each building on the one before it, allowing the individual to discover what is unique about themselves and develop a dynamic vision of how they can use their gifts to better serve their communities.

The Four Themes

1.  Who Are You?

Explore who you are as an individual and as a leader:  your background, your values, the role models you admire, your unique talents, and your hopes and dreams.

2.  How Do You Lead?

Leadership isn’t a role, it’s a set of behaviors—of skills.  Identify and hone the skills of leadership, including communication, influence, teamwork, and goal-setting.

3.  Why Do You Lead?

Every great leader has a cause—a wrong they want to right, a vision they wish to achieve, a group they feel called to serve.  Find your voice and learn to engage with issues constructively.

4.  What Will You Contribute?

NLS believes leadership is about being a role model and serving others, not about holding a position of power.  True leadership benefits those being lead; leadership is service.

Engaged Leadership

The Nebraska Leadership Seminar offers a hands-on, active experience—not a series of dry lectures and tours.  Our students engage in interactive discussions with Nebraska leaders, model and practice the skills of leadership, and actually engage in real volunteer service projects while on campus.  

NLS practices a three-stage learning model of discovery, development, and application.  The seminar presents ideas, offers the students an opportunity to discuss, debate, and practice the content of those ideas, and then asks them to apply the lessons of leadership to their lives starting at the seminar itself.

Ongoing Experience

The NLS experience doesn’t end when the seminar does.  You know the motivational spark from a speaker or seminar doesn’t last forever, but the relationships and opportunities found at NLS continue long after your students return to your community.  Our Alumni Association offers ongoing opportunities to socialize with other young leaders from across the state, receive reinforcement of the lessons learned at NLS, and engage in meaningful volunteer service activities in diverse Nebraska communities.  

Powerful Partnerships

Our partnering organizations help us to deliver the best leadership content available to Nebraska youth:

The Gallup Organization’s Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment offers students scientific insights into their unique gifts and talents.  Gallup’s How Full Is Your Bucket? program provides the skills and inspiration to take communications to a whole new level.  These topics fill Gallup’s best-selling books and have revolutionized businesses and educational institutions across the country.

Doane College’s Hansen Leadership Program and members of the Doane faculty further drive our seminar with inspiring stories about role models, values, identity, research on the importance of leadership and the psychological effects of volunteer service, and a variety of dynamic activities.

Ready for more?

Explore our curriculum via the links above, or visit our Registration page to sign up your students for the next Nebraska Leadership Seminar!