UC Economics Center preps school leaders

For Chris Kloesz, lifelong Cincinnati resident and principal at Loveland High School, participation in the Alpaugh Scholars Leadership Program was invaluable.
 
This five-month program offered through the University of Cincinnati’s Economics Center brings local educators and business leaders together to enable school leaders to better understand the connection between communities, schools and the ways the economy impacts both.
 
“I would say that my favorite session—one that really stands out—was a very in-depth historical tour of the city, where at the beginning of the day, we boarded a charter bus and went to a number of different locations where we received extensive background on how the city developed, going back to over a couple hundred years ago,” Kloesz says.
 
According to Kloesz, schools function as microcosms of their local community, so having an understanding of “what we are,” “where we’ve come from,” and “what we want to be” is knowledge that can’t be ignored when looking toward future educational visions.
 
“It’s beneficial to have that perspective as we continue to work to improve education, society, social welfare programming, government structure—all those things that function and work together,” Kloesz says.
 
“I had no idea from one month to the next, the type of knowledge I’d pick up, nor did I know how I was going to apply that; but here I am a couple years later, on a day-to-day basis, being able to reflect on my experiences and the knowledge I’ve gained and applying it to my vision and understanding for what my responsibilities are.”

Do Good:

• Learn about the Alpaugh Scholars Leadership Program, and contact the Economics Center if you're an educator who is interested in registering.

• Help the Economics Center achieve its mission of sharing financial literacy knowledge by making use of its teaching tools and resources. 

• Connect with the Economics Center on Facebook.

By Brittany York
Brittany York is a professor of English composition at both the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.