BLUE RIDGE
LEADERS SCHOOL
SOH
Productions
Since
its
beginning in 1922, the Blue Ridge Leader’s School has supplemented the
work of
local YMCAs by inspiring and training youth and adult volunteer leaders
for its
physical education programs.
For over
90 years the School has dedicated itself to the development of the
“Body, Mind
and Spirit” of its volunteer leaders.
It is an
experience of Christian involvement at a level most people have only
imagined.
The Blue
Ridge Leaders School's curriculum was founded in the study and practice
of
basic Christian values, leadership, gymnastics, aquatics and sports
skills,
methods of teaching, principles of group work as well as the history
and
organization of the YMCA.
Constantly
adapting to meet the needs of today, this curriculum has expanded to
include
classes in exercise science, fitness testing and measurement,
nutrition,
crossover training techniques, group dynamics, lesson planning, working
with
special needs populations, and childhood obesity and diabetes
prevention.
The initials
BRLS quite possibly stand for the most positive model of a leadership
development program in our nation today.
Blue Ridge
Leaders’ School’s highly skilled and dedicated staff have always been
made up
of a totally volunteer force. Faculty members pay their own travel
expenses in
addition to a staff fee for what they consider a privilege to help
train and
impact the lives of the YMCA’s finest youth and adult volunteers.
Leading
educators, attorneys, academics, scientists, and former Blue Ridge
alumni, donate
their time, talent and treasure to help maintain the high standards of
BRLS.
Many have served on it's staff for 30, 40 or 50 years or more. They
have a true
lifetime of commitment to a cause they deem to be of the highest order.
The
training received leaves an indelible footprint on these young peoples'
lives.
The Blue
Ridge Leader’s School has graduated tens of thousands of youth leaders,
who
have in turn given back tens of millions of hours of service to their
communities through their local YMCAs.
The
benefit throughout the United States and in more than 20 foreign
countries has
been extraordinary.
And
although the economic enrichment BRLS has given back to the world we
live in
has been in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the impact the school
has made
in human terms has been of a truly inestimable and eternal value.
In past
years, the school has operated at full capacity, leaving a waiting list
of
young people who are hungry to learn new leadership and physical skills
and are
willing to hold themselves accountable for completing the grueling
curriculum.
If the
Blue Ridge Leader’s School is to continue training the best and
brightest of
our future leaders, it will need to expand its reach.
Endowment
development has long been the solution in academia and other charitable
organizations. To insure that the school can continue BRLS must look to
alternative funding sources.
The Blue
Ridge Leaders School Policy Board would like to invite you to join us
in our
mission to train our future YMCA and community leaders for the
twenty-first
century.... and beyond.
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