Every Tuesday and Thursday morning before school, Dec. 16 to Feb. 5,  a select group of Westview athletes called Golden Leaders meet with the Athletic Director Steve McLaughlin for important lessons about leadership and being a team player. McLaughlin said the purpose of Golden Leaders is twofold, both the interpersonal skills of individual athletes and the well-being of Westview teams. 

“[The purpose is] to get to know our student-athletes that have promise in their sport and invest in them some positive leadership traits that they can use for the next few years to help them be successful on this campus,” McLaughlin said. “That’s part one. Part two is to invest back in the school so that we make our school better because of [the golden leaders’] great qualities. So, it’s almost like a community service back to our campus.”

Lindsey Stefanick (11), varsity volleyball player and second-year Golden Leader, says each lesson has a different theme designed to make your skills stronger as a leader.

“One of the days was about finding our ‘inner gold,’ which is how everyone’s a unique person and how we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others,” Stefanick said. “One of the days we talked about a tree and related it back to our lives. The roots are planted somewhere, so you have to make the best of the situation, and that can be related to sports, on your team, or just in life in general.” 

Athletes are chosen for the group in different ways, either being recommended by a coach or teacher or noticed by McLaughlin.

“We ask head coaches, ‘Okay, do you have any promising student athletes that you think would be a good fit for this program?’” McLaughlin said. “Sometimes they’ll give me a suggestion. Sometimes I’ll notice somebody from a program, like, ‘hey, I think they would be a good fit.’ Sometimes I’ll get a recommendation for another staff member. And then sometimes it’s completely random. Like, I feel like it might not be a good fit right now, but they need it. So sometimes I’ll pull kids in that I feel have influence, but might not be using that influence appropriately, and so I want to just personally kind of invest in those individuals.”

The lessons Golden Leaders learn translate into a capstone event. The group is beginning the planning for the Unity Day basketball game, which will be sometime in March. McLaughlin says it’s an opportunity for each Golden Leader to use their unique skills. 

“There are so many different responsibilities and jobs in order to make that event go well,” McLaughlin said. “There are so many different things to make the event special and unique and different each year…you’re investing that good talent that you have into other people. And so generally, the output from that game is just a lot of joy. There’s joy from the people who are watching it. There’s joy from the people who got to participate in it, but also for our Golden Leaders, there’s the joy that they got to create something that brought a lot of joy to a lot of different people. So it also makes them feel good about what they’re doing and how they’re doing things.”

Makena McLaughlin (12), a fourth-year Golden Leader, says the skills she’s learned through the Golden Leaders lessons have translated to her role on the basketball team. 

“It taught me to be 100% committed to your team, and in order to lead people, you have to be confident with yourself first,” she said. “And it just kind of taught me confidence over the years. It taught me how to be louder on the court and grow connections with my teammates easier.” 

Stefanick says that Golden Leaders has taught her that people’s unique traits play an important role in what it means to be a good leader.

 “It’s important to include everybody,” Stefanick said. “Every person’s unique, and they all add to a team. And not just focus on something you want, but how to be a selfless leader, and how to do what’s best for the team even if it’s not benefiting you exactly at the time.”