Odessa FBLA a grand-prize winner

For the second year in a row, the Odessa High School Chapter of FBLA has been selected as one of the six top winners in the nationwide Lead2Feed program. The Odessa community is invited to join a celebration of the students' achievement this Friday, June 3, from 12:30 to 1:15 p.m. in the school multipurpose room.

The student-led leadership projects resulted in awards of $275,000 in grant prizes for U.S. non-profits and $170,000 in technology packages for winning schools.

Six student teams from middle and high schools around the country have won the fourth annual Lead2Feed Challenge and will be awarded $25,000 each for their school's nonprofit of choice, and $10,000 in technology products for their school.

The Lead2Feed Student Leadership Program is the nation's fastest growing leadership program attracting more than a million students in 5,000 schools and clubs across all 50 states.

Inspired and supported by Executive Chairman of Yum! Brands, David Novak, Lead2Feed helps fill a gap in middle and high school education with innovative leadership lessons. Since the program's inception in 2012, more than one million student members have put their leadership skills to work, volunteering a million hours of service, providing nearly three million meals and hosting thousands of charity events to address specific community and global needs.

To win the Lead2Feed Challenge, students study leadership lessons, form teams and create programs to address a community need. This year, over 2,400 schools and clubs nationwide registered as Lead2Feed members. From those educators across 30 states who submitted student-led projects, six teams were selected based on the innovative and impactful programs they conducted to address a pertinent community need.

The six grand prize recipients were:

• Eisenhower High School, Lawton, Okla .: The prestigious ALL IN Leadership Award goes to Eisenhower High School's Ignition mentors, a group of senior class leaders who motivated the entire school to participate in Lead2Feed, successfully raising more than the total funds needed ($2,715 or 21,000+ pounds of food) to run the local Salvation Army chapter for three months.

Eisenhower High School has been a Lead2Feed Challenge honoree since 2013.

• The Harbour School at Baltimore, Owing Mills, Md .: Over the course of more than 4,500 service learning hours, the special needs student team, Harbouring Hope, developed a local, national and international initiative with themed action packs about the social issues of hunger, poverty and illiteracy that were mailed to 16 states and seven countries. The team wrote and published children's books about each of the social issues. In addition, Harbouring Hope and its partners collected over 2,000 pounds of non-perishable food items to donate to the Maryland Food Bank.

The Harbour School has previously won the Lead2Feed Challenge in 2014 and 2015.

• Odessa High School, Odessa, Wash .: The school's FBLA chapter conducted two leadership projects aimed to support important needs in their area. Students planned, cooked and delivered 1,500 meals to the Mt. Tolman Fire Center to feed those battling Washington's largest wildfire. The meals fed the firefighters three times a day for one month.

Students also implemented the Weekend Backpack Program with 2nd Harvest Food Bank by securing sponsors who donated $6,974 for weekly backpack kits of food for weekends, Christmas break and through the summer. Odessa High School was a 2015 Lead2Feed Challenge winner.

• Menchville High School, Newport News, Va .: The entire high school led a variety of service learning events including collecting 6,594 canned items and $1,000 in donations for the Peninsula Food Bank. Ten thousand meals and $3,000 were raised for Stop Hunger Now.

Students also illustrated a coloring book that was donated to every elementary school student in Newport News and crafted ceramic bowls for Empty Bowls Auction and Fundraiser. Menchville High School was a 2015 Lead2Feed Challenge honoree.

• Port Chester Middle School, Port Chester, N.Y .: Inspired by the book, A Long Walk to Water, eighth-graders at Port Chester Middle School's PC Hydration Nation team have committed to raise $10,000 through social media and school-wide initiatives for Water for Sudan, an African charity that builds wells in villages and inspires local communities to build schools in Sudan. This project helps give children access to water and education to break the cycle of poverty.

• Seneca High School, Louisville, Ky .: The Redhawk Rangers student team "adopted" the community of Auxier to meet a variety of needs. The students donated over 350 nonperishable items and toiletries to the Auxier food pantry and installed new roofs over two homes and a school building. In addition, the team launched the Healthy Smiles campaign, reaching out to the Auxier community's dentist offices, churches and Hand In Hand Ministries to donate 1,500 dental supplies and nonperishables. Seneca High School was a 2015 Lead2Feed Challenge honoree.

"Through Lead2Feed, student leaders across the country have committed to feeding the need in their community. It's inspiring to see these students form teams, set a big goal, and create and execute a plan," said David Novak, executive chairman of Yum! Brands. "Teaching people to lead is an invaluable skill that is lacking in academic curriculum today. The Lead2Feed Student Leadership Program helps fill this gap in middle and high school education and is making the world a better place for generations to come."

"Feeding young minds and local community groups in need are all part of this remarkable leadership program where students use 21st century skills – collaboration, critical thinking, communication and innovation – to hone their leadership skills and to benefit local nonprofits," said Diane Barrett, executive director of the Foundation for Impact on Literacy and Learning, Inc. "I am incredibly proud of the one million students who have used this program and are on their way to becoming successful leaders of the future."

To watch the action, get involved, and learn more, follow Lead2Feed:

• Web: http://www.lead2feed.org

• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Lead2Feed

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeadtoFeed

• Instagram: http://instagram.com/leadtofeed

• Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/leadtofeed/

• Students in action: http://www.lead2feed.org/lead2feed-featured-video

Complete rules and details on the Lead2Feed Challenge are available at: http://www.lead2feed.org/howto-participate/project-submission-rules/