Nineteen high school seniors from six states spent a week honing leadership skills at Wartburg College this summer during the sixth annual High School Leadership Institute.
Not only does HSLI help the students grow into leaders, but it also has served as a recruiting tool for Wartburg — illustrating just how the college lives out its mission. In its first five years, 31 of the HSLI graduates have returned to Wartburg in great part due to their summer experiences.
Again this summer, HSLI featured insights into leadership, team-building activities and hands-on service projects, including two days in Chicago working with children at the Holy Family Lutheran Summer School.
The 2010 HSLI graduates left with blueprints for hometown projects dealing with hunger, senior citizens, volunteerism, an animal shelter, youths in transition out of foster care, park and highway cleanup and assistance for single mothers and children
The students will put together a portfolio on the progress of their projects and reflections on their experiences. Those successfully completing their tasks will receive 3.5 semester hours of transferable college credit for Wartburg’s “Elements of Leadership” course and will be eligible for a $1,000 renewable scholarship to Wartburg.
Michael Stevenson ’11, a biology major from Elma, Iowa, organized a “senior prom” attended by 150 senior citizens the day after his high school prom. “I would say that HSLI was the deciding factor in my decision,” he said. “How many institutions have you living out their mission before you are enrolled? I think the program is a pretty strong reflection of Wartburg's dedication to challenging and nurturing its students for lives of leadership and service.”
“HSLI did help influence my choice on going to Wartburg,” said Anna McMullen ’14 a political science major from Janesville, Wis., whose 2009-10 project was a “birthday party” for the local food pantry that supplies presents for children of low-income families in a city where GM recently closed its plant.
“After attending HSLI, I was sure that I wanted to attend Wartburg and nowhere else,” she said. “The mentors were all people that I admired, and they were the type of people I wanted to be around at college.”
The mentors also influenced Shea Kruger ’12, a biology major from Grafton, Iowa, whose “Nothing But Nets” and “Measles Initiative” projects focused on Africa, raising money for 558 measles vaccinations and 128 nets to prevent malaria. 
“The experiences I encountered that week at the college and volunteering in Chicago highly influenced my decision to attend Wartburg,” she said. “I kept in touch with my mentor throughout my senior year, and he helped guide me through obstacles I encountered in my service project as well as questions that came up while I was applying to different schools.”
Audrey Sturtz ’11, now a biology major from Boone, Iowa, enlisted 4-H members and experienced quilters in 2007-08 to make blankets for Project Linus Organization — aiding children in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. HSLI convinced her that “Wartburg was absolutely the perfect fit for me.
Mark Polle ’14, a pre-dentistry student from Sioux City, created a Students Against Destructive Decisions chapter at his high school in 2009-10. “The scholarship that HSLI offered secured my decision to attend Wartburg,” he said.
For Tara Hamilton ’12, an elementary education major from Roland, Iowa, a project called “Daddy and His Little Girl” “taught me to focus on strengthening the girls' relationships with their dads.”
“We met once every month. I tried to vary my activities from things that the dads would enjoy to things the girls would enjoy. Some of our activities were a scavenger hunt, pumpkin carving, ice skating, a date night, a pool party and even a Daddy and His Little Girl Prom,” Hamilton said.
“I had never even heard of Wartburg before,” she said. “But after being on campus for a week, I knew it was my only choice. From just being here a week, I learned what Be Orange meant and I wanted it more than anything.”
HSLI “was created to help talented, civic-minded high school students develop leadership skills that can make their home communities better places,” said Dr. Fred Waldstein, director of the Institute for Leadership, Irving R. Burling Chair in Leadership, and professor of political science.
And it also has paid dividends in luring community service-oriented students and future leaders to Wartburg.
