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Local Chick-fil-A operator Bryson Bullington, at the podium, speaks to SSHS students about what defines leadership and describes his own life experiences as part of the Leader Academy. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer -
SSHS students file into the room at the ROC set up for the Chick-fil-A Leader Academy where they spent most of the day. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer
About 30 Sulphur Springs High School students participated in the Chick-fil-A Leader Academy Wednesday at the ROC, an opportunity to learn what leadership is and to explore it through service projects.
“We’re trying to think about the next generation of people,” local store operator Bryson Bullington said before the students filed in, adding the company’s restaurant can allow students to gain leadership skills as well.
The students at the Academy will participate in service projects stretching from this week to December, Bullington said, an effort that will heavily rely on the students’ involvement.
“What we want them to do is come collectively together and find who are the leaders in these groups of individual kids,” Bullington said. “Who is going to take charge? Who is going to get a plan together? Who is then going to execute that plan towards building a service project both at the front end and at the back end at the end of the year.”
Bullington said they plan to hold the Academy with other schools, but seeing as the store is located in Sulphur Springs, SSHS made sense to go first. This is the first Academy Bullington has sponsored. Deadline had passed when the store was first established in 2019, and 2020’s Academies were put on hold due to the pandemic.
“This is the first opportunity we’ve had to utilize this really valuable tool for the local community,” Bullington said. “To me, that’s the biggest part. We get the honor of serving chicken, but really it’s about serving a community and serving a group of people.”
During the morning part of the session, Bullington said the students had potential and asked them what that meant to them. One piped up with the answer as the possibility to do more, and another said it was the ability to focus and complete any task.
When Bullington asked them what defines leadership, students said the ability to take a risk and to lead by action are key, and he zeroed in on the risk-taking leaders may have to do.
“One of the biggest impediments to people’s success is they determine what they’re going to do and how successful they’re going to be before they ever try,” Bullington said. “And that’s difficult. Don’t limit yourself.”
The Chick-fil-A Leader Academy is a nationwide program sponsored by local restaurants, and according to its website, 110,000 students across more than 1,050 schools have been involved in the program since its launch in 2013.