The Leader Advancement Scholar is a program I wasn’t really aware of until my junior year of high school. After attending MASC/MAHS leadership camp I was surrounded by people who seemed to talk about wanting to be a part of LAS constantly. While I was not really sure what it was, I went home that summer and began looking into it. I soon fell in love with the idea of someday being a part of a cohort that believed in the value of leadership and valued working to make this world. better place as much as I do. LAS soon became more important and nerve-wracking to me than applying to any certain college. The LAS application process focuses on all of your leadership experience, involvements, volunteer experience, and any other extra-circulars that may set you a part. There is an application pool of about 2,5000 other high school seniors of which they accept around 45 students.After finishing the online application, about 80 students are asked to come back for a competition day. Here they learn more about the program, do group interviews, and participate in a few leadership activities. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend so I did an interview over Skype.
Now being a part of LAS I am surrounded by a cohort of 48 others who have made my transition into college so much smoother. I have had my mentor Madison to turn to with every little worry or question I had, and I had my cohort in my classes with me to make me feel more comfortable with all the change.
This semester we take LDR 100 as a cohort where we work on building a community within our group. I am also in Debate with half of the cohort as a public speaking class. We are also supposed to be in a Psychology class together, but I already had this credit from AP classes in high school.
Kayla Kuczynski 