JETER'S LEADERS MISSION

Jeter's Leaders is a leadership development program created to empower, recognize and enhance the skills of high school students who:

• Promote healthy lifestyles, free of alcohol and substance abuse;
• Achieve academically;
• Are committed to improving their community through social change activities;
• Serve as role models to younger students and to deliver positive messages to their peers.

When Derek established Turn 2, he knew he wanted to share his message with as many young people as possible. Recognizing he couldn't be everywhere at once, he created the Jeter's Leaders: an intensive four-year leadership development program for high school students who serve as ambassadors for Derek in their communities and beyond.

The highly selective program, offered in New York City and Kalamazoo, Michigan, is Turn 2's signature initiative and transforms high school students who are role models in their communities into powerful agents of social change. Leaders are inducted every summer as incoming freshmen, and remain in the program throughout all four years of high school. As part of this initiative, the students meet on a bi-weekly basis and work on assignments and projects aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles, serving their communities, mentoring, achieving academically and furthering their professional development. For the past 12 consecutive years, 100 percent of Jeter's Leaders have gone on to attend college after graduating high school.

Jeter's Leaders program applicants must be residents of the New York City metropolitan area or West Michigan in the eighth grade at the time of application, with a GPA of 3.0 or higher to be accepted. Applicants must be drug and alcohol free and involved in community service or extracurricular activities in their schools or communities. The application process consists of a written application; two letters of recommendation from a teacher, coach or community leader; a copy of the student's most recent report card or transcript; and a 300-word essay. Once inducted, Jeter's Leaders are required to maintain these standards and their commitment to the program's activities and healthy lifestyles free of drugs and alcohol.

The Jeter's Leaders program includes a commitment to leadership development and focuses on essential human qualities of leadership/character development, which are called the "10 Pillars of Leadership."

10 Pillars of Leadership:

To facilitate learning in the pillar areas, a variety of strategies are used to enhance each Leader's development. By integrating techniques into the current structure and modeling specific behaviors, the goal is to help the Jeter's Leaders infuse leadership development and qualities into their daily lives.

Through the 10 Pillars of Leadership, five major goals have been developed:

Goal 1: To promote living healthy lifestyles.

Goal 2: To provide students with the ability to serve their community.

Goal 3: To offer students the opportunity to mentor and act as role models to others.

Goal 4: To support students' efforts to achieve academically.

Goal 5: To expose students to experiences that further their professional development.

The Jeter's Leaders bring their message of social change to cities across the country through initiatives that include the Jeter's Leaders Leadership Conference and the Social Change Project.

A biannual national conference, the Jeter's Leaders Leadership Conference brings together members of youth leadership organizations from across the country to address and attempt to solve critical issues facing their peers. Organized and hosted by the Jeter's Leaders, the conference features seminars, activities and workshops pertaining to topics selected by students, including bullying, cultural diversity, social media, drug and alcohol awareness, healthy lifestyles and personal and professional development.

The Jeter's Leaders Social Change Project is a week-long initiative that brings members of the Jeter's Leaders program to cities nationwide where they work together to make a positive impact through service projects in the communities they visit.