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McEwen Leadership
Program "Leadership in Action"The debate regarding whether leaders are born or made has raged on for many decades among top academic scholars. Here at St. Andrew’s, there is definitely a common belief that leadership skills can be nurtured and developed by providing students with many opportunities to act as leaders throughout their academic career. Building a solid understanding of group dynamics, communication, conflict resolution, and motivation can often be the key to one’s success in social settings. These successes may occur in the workplace, on the sports field, or even in an individual’s personal life. Furthermore, leadership skills can be applied beyond the realm of the business world to every single discipline, including science, mathematics, and the arts. As a result, the development of strong leadership skills among the students at St. Andrew’s has recently become a prominent area of focus within the academic structure of the Business Studies program. Through the design and implementation of a solid leadership development program, St. Andrew’s is now poised to educate a future generation of leaders and successful St. Andrew’s alumni. The launching of a solid leadership development program at St. Andrew’s has been the vision of one such successful alumnus, Rob McEwen ’69, for many years. Rob McEwen is Chairman and CEO of US Gold and Lexam Explorations, and the founder and former Chairman and CEO of Goldcorp, which is the world's lowest cost million ounce gold producer. In 1990 Rob jumped into the mining industry, where he transformed Goldcorp from a collection of small companies into a mining powerhouse. Rob is a perfect example of an entrepreneur and innovative business leader. Due to his excellent business knowledge, personal characteristics, and innovative nature, Rob was able to seize a great opportunity and raise his company to pre-eminence in the mining industry. Equally committed to the betterment of the community, Rob is a generous philanthropist and has been a benefactor to the Red Lake community in Northwestern Ontario as well as to the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the Toronto General Hospital, the Schulich School of Business at York University, and other important causes. Throughout his career, Rob has been recognized for his leadership, innovation, and philanthropy through a large number of distinguished awards. Most notably, in July of 2007 Rob received the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian honour, in recognition of his lifetime of distinguished service to particular communities, groups or fields of activity. Rob’s commitment to support leadership education extends back to his roots at St. Andrew’s, and he has endowed a chair in Leadership Studies through an original contribution of $500,000. This very generous gesture is also very unique as it is the first endowed academic chair in the history of St. Andrew’s. Thanks to Rob’s contribution, in 2007-08 his educational vision was finally able to be put into action through the launching of the McEwen Leadership Program. The program is designed to incorporate leadership principles into a variety of business disciplines while providing experiential learning opportunities for students through all grade levels in the Upper School. In Grade 9, the program introduces students to leadership concepts through the McEwen Leadership Competition. In the three weeks leading up to competition, each Grade 9 Introduction to Business Technology class is organized into a student-led organizational hierarchy. Each class then acts as a marketing and technology consulting company for an actual charitable organization in the Aurora community. The classes are required to create a variety of promotional materials that will best suit the needs of the charitable organization that has ‘hired’ their company. This past year, the selected charitable organization was the Aurora Food Pantry. During the three weeks of preparation each class created several marketing materials including web sites, videos, slide shows, newspaper advertisements, brochures, and even company business cards. The classes then pitched themselves and their ideas to Mrs. Lorna Rummanie, Director of the Aurora Food Pantry. The website created by the winning class will be utilized by the Aurora Food Pantry in the coming months and the organization will also circulate the marketing materials created by the winning class. A donation was also made on behalf of St. Andrew’s College to the Aurora Food Pantry to thank the organization for its involvement in the student project. Overall, the McEwen Leadership Competition is a very engaging and interactive project that has been well-received by the student body. The project is designed to simulate a ‘real-world’ business experience and allow the students to interact with members of the Aurora business community, and serves as a stepping stone to prepare the students for the McEwen Leadership Program in Grade 10. In Grade 10, the McEwen Leadership Program continues primarily through the McEwen Case Study Competition. During the year, students are taught the case-study approach to business problem-solving and work individually and in groups to provide feasible solutions to a variety of case studies in the areas of marketing, entrepreneurship, leadership, finance, and social responsibility. The focus of the case-study approach is to help students develop their ability to understand group dynamics while applying their curricular knowledge to realistic business problems. The Grade 10 course culminates with the McEwen Case Study Competition, which features a summative case study project in which each group attempts to present their best solution to the identified problems. This past year, each group acted as a consulting company to the YMCA of Vancouver and addressed several issues related to marketing, employee satisfaction, and social responsibility. The groups created a written report and oral presentation and one group from each class section qualified to compete in the final stage of the competition in the Donald Dunlap Theatre. Each finalist group presented their case-study solution to an audience which included their fellow Grade 10 business classmates as well as a judging panel featuring several prominent members of the GTA business community. In the end, the judges were extremely impressed by the ability of the students to address ‘real-world’ business issues with great depth and insight. Following the competition, a select group of students were treated to a field trip experience to Deloitte Canada Inc. for a leadership workshop and behind-the-scenes view of business operations. The entire Grade 10 year is an excellent academic experience designed to properly prepare students for further studies in the McEwen Leadership Program in Grade 11. This current academic year features the launching of a brand new course at St. Andrew’s: Grade 11 McEwen Leadership Fundamentals. As the third stage in the McEwen Leadership Program, the course will teach students key concepts from the disciplines of leadership, organizational behaviour, marketing, entrepreneurship, and international business. The course will also provide students with many unique experiences including field trips, workshops, conferences, and business simulations. Another highlight of the course will be the launching of the McEwen Leadership Library and several units of study designed to utilize the library’s resources that are tailored towards several curricular disciplines. Finally, the course will culminate in a summative project that requires students to present solutions to real business issues to company representatives at their respective office facilities. The opportunities that will be provided to students in the Grade 11 McEwen Leadership Fundamentals course are extremely unique and help to set the Business Studies program at St. Andrew’s apart from many other programs throughout the province. Ideally, the McEwen Leadership Program will continue to expand in the years to come and offer opportunities for Grade 12 students as well. A Grade 12 Business Leadership: Management Fundamentals course is currently being designed and will be proposed this year for integration into next year’s academic curriculum. The course will explore in more depth the disciplines addressed in Grade 11 and provide further opportunities for the students to apply their skills to ‘real-world’ situations. Key elements of the course will include the development and implementation of a business venture plan as well as the planning and coordination of a major event within the St. Andrew’s community. The course will culminate with a class field trip to several established businesses in order to participate in workshops and obtain more behind-the-scenes glimpses of leadership in action. Students who are fortunate enough to follow the McEwen Leadership Program throughout their entire academic career will be recognized on Prize Day for their contributions to the program. This recognition will accompany the extraordinary amount of leadership knowledge and skills the students will have developed throughout their time in the program to prepare them for post-secondary education and their eventual careers. St. Andrew’s would like to extend an invitation to members of the Andrean community to become involved in the McEwen Leadership Program. Developing a solid network of business professionals that would be willing to interact with our students is one of the keys to ensuring that the students will be well prepared for their university studies and future careers. There are many ways in which one may become involved in the program, including but not limited to:
If you are interested in helping the program develop in any way, or would simply
like more information about the program’s structure, please contact Mr. Sean
Ludwig, Course Director, at any time. |
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____________________________________________________________ Contact Information Sean Ludwig
Page last modified on:
04/06/2010 |
