USD Magazine, Spring 2004

Alumni Pass Leadership Know-how to Teens O n Feb. 24, 17-year-old Manuel headed off to his first job - not at their organizations and their community through service. They decided the best way to make a difference was to pass the skills they learned to the next generation. After they graduated in July

teur teachers," says MSEL gradu– ate John Weiss, a strategic sales representative with Sun Microsystems."We're not just here to make these teen-agers feel good, but to teach them skills that they can take out into the real world. It's been so great to see how much they've grown." During the pilot program, which ran from September 2003 to March 2004, the alumni - Kontopuls and Weiss, along with

also taught the teens how to use different types of power, which can come, for example, from one's knowledge, relationships or positions. The teens range in age from 15 to 18.They learned how to write resumes, went on mock interviews, had lunch on the USD campus and took a field trip to the Natural History Museum in San Diego's Balboa Park.The lessons resonated with Manuel who, at one point, walked up to Kontopuls and asked for a job. "I wanted to hire him right off the bat," says Kontopuls, who put the young man to work in his company's human resources

a fast food joint or local retail store, but at Elite Show Services Inc., where he was hand-picked for an internship by chief execu– tive officer John Kontopuls '03. Kontopuls is one of five alumni from the business school's mas– ter of science in executive lead– ership program - which trains business executives to be better leaders - who took to heart the program's mission to teach executives how to transform

2003, the alumni created a pilot program to teach leadership and other practical life skills to a group of seven high schoolers living at the Toussaint Teen Center, a local group home for teens who don't have stable homes. "We didn't know what to expect, because we're just ama-

Stephanie Casenza, Steve Holland and Deb Lehman -

taught the teen-agers leadership skills, including setting goals, ask– ing for help, solving problems and even running meetings. They

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US D MAG AZ I N E