Ten more young leaders have joined the forces of positive leadership in Rowan County.

As part of its strategic mission to develop leaders and stewards of the community, Salisbury Academy, through its Broyhill Leadership Scholarship program, provided scholarships for students from Rowan-Salisbury high schools to attend the Broyhill Leadership Conference in late June.

The conference was held at Wingate University over a five-day period. At the conference, scholarship recipients honed skills including problem solving and critical thinking, all while forging friendships and connections for the future.

“It was one of the best weeks of my life,” said Leadership Scholar Corbin Smith, a rising junior at North Rowan High School.

Smith’s most valuable takeaways include learning to see adversity as an opportunity for self-improvement and discovering that every experience in life is an opportunity to learn.

Mikayla Mather, leadership scholar and rising junior at Salisbury High School, was also energized by her experiences at the conference.

“I took so much away from the Broyhill Leadership Conference,” Mather said. “It was such a great place for friendship and leadership to collide.”

Salisbury High guidance counselor Tangela Morgan sees the Salisbury Academy Broyhill Leadership Scholarship as a means to prepare students not just for success in academics, but for excellence in their future careers and roles in the community at large, as well. And the scholarship is proof of Salisbury Academy’s dedication to the surrounding community, she says.

“Salisbury Academy’s Leadership Scholarship reveals Salisbury Academy’s commitment to the cultivation of student leaders throughout the school system, which ultimately reveals a vested interest in the continued growth and development of Rowan County,” said Morgan.

Scholarship funds are raised in part through Salisbury Academy’s corporate partners, and through the school’s annual spring gala that this year was held at the N.C. Transportation Museum.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Salisbury Academy has provided the Broyhill Leadership Scholarship, an opportunity which sends local students in the 10^th to 12^th grades to the Broyhill Leadership Conference each summer. Applications are sent to all of the Rowan-Salisbury high schools. Some students are nominated by their guidance counselors, while other students apply on their own.

Beverly Fowler, head of school for Salisbury Academy, says that by offering this opportunity to local high school students, Salisbury Academy aims to foster confidence and leadership skills in students that will enable them to take initiative and problem solve wherever they go.

“These students will be the future business owners and leaders of our nation, and we are proud to support them in their journey,” said Fowler.

Empowered by her recent lessons in leadership and ready to take on the future, Mather – much like her fellow Leadership Scholars – is up for the challenge.

“I know I will use what I learned to better serve my community,” said Mather.

For a full list of Salisbury Academy’s corporate partners in the Leadership Scholarship, visit http://www.salisburyacademy.org/sponsors.cfm.