Our world demands young leaders. Colleges want socially responsible leaders who are committed to service, according to College Board. Leadership skills are among Indeed’s top 11 skills employers look for in job candidates.
As your high schooler prepares for college, and eventually, for a career, they’ll need the skills, experience, and confidence to lead. At the Peace Ambassador Leadership Summit (PALS) at Florida International University (FIU) hosted by National Voices for Equality, Education, and Enlightenment (NVEEE,) we help you empower your child to become the leader colleges and employers are searching for.
PALS at FIU is a week-long youth leadership conference where high school students attend skill-building workshops, collaborate on community service projects, and develop the confidence and compassion to take initiative. From PALS, participants–called delegates–gain college and career success skills, extensive community service experience, leadership and communication skills, and opportunities for mentorship by program alumni. Furthermore, they gain a lifelong commitment to leading lasting change in their community and beyond.
Delegates live what they learn by spending the week on FIU’s campus. Your child will attend interactive workshops led by college professors, experience dorm living, and step into leadership roles through simulations and group challenges around campus. Your child will be supervised by trained staff with Level 2 background checks and a resident assistant.
NVEEE is a congressionally recognized nonprofit empowering youth to become resilient, socially responsible leaders through leadership development, peer mentoring, and prevention education programs. For over ten years, NVEEE has hosted PALS at nationally ranked colleges, including the University of Florida and Georgetown University. This year’s PALS at FIU program theme is Social-Emotional Leadership for College and Life Success, and the summit will take place from Sunday, July 13 to Sunday, July 20. We will also host PALS at Georgetown University from Saturday, July 26 to Saturday, August 2.
Here’s how PALS at FIU will empower your high schooler to lead their success in college and beyond:
College and Career Preparedness
At PALS at FIU, we’ll equip your high schooler with the skills they need to lead with empathy. We’ll also equip them with the college and career readiness skills that will make admissions officers, employers, and your child’s future colleagues recognize them as an effective, resilient leader.
Delegates practice these skills in hands-on workshops and activities led by college professors, field professionals, and PALS alumni. At previous summits, delegates have created resumes and received coaching on them, researched scholarships and recorded them in a comprehensive spreadsheet, and brainstormed college essay topics with a program alumnus who went through the college application process herself. Your child will also master professional communication: they’ll practice networking, interviewing, public speaking, and personal branding.
Your high schooler will reinforce and digitally save what they learn using the NVEEE Empowerment and Success Hub (NES,) our newly launched, highly interactive digital portal. As they participate in workshops and hone their preprofessional skills during activities, they will supplement their knowledge with interactive lessons, video walkthroughs, worksheets, and real-world tools. NVEEE college interns, many of whom are PALS alumni, designed NES to equip high school students with the skills and resources they wished someone had compiled for them before they applied to college.
Unlike in traditional leadership programs, PALS at FIU participants learn by doing, so your child will easily remember and be able to confidently apply what they learned long after the summit ends. They’ll also be able to log in to NES from anywhere and access its guidance anytime–including in college and their career.
91.7% of delegates felt more prepared to create an actionable college application plan after our 2024 College Advising workshop.
Social-Emotional Leadership Skills and Life Skills
Succeeding as a leader takes more than just knowledge or experience. In our FIU summit’s workshops, group activities, NES activities, and youth-led open discussions, delegates learn to lead with social and emotional intelligence. Your child will practice resolving and mediating conflicts, taking their peers’ diverse perspectives, and handling difficult conversations confidently. They’ll also learn how to build healthy relationships and set healthy boundaries, and at socials like pool days, game nights, and PALS’ signature Banquet and Award Ceremony, they’ll put their knowledge into practice and make lifelong friends.
Over the course of the summit, your child will build a leadership support network of experienced mentors and like-minded peers. They’ll receive personalized mentorship by senior PALS staff, including NVEEE’s founder, to bring out their strengths. With the guidance of the network they will build at PALS, they’ll feel empowered to lead with confidence.
We will also help your high schooler strengthen the life skills that will bring them interpersonal and personal success. They’ll build resilience, manage their stress and time wisely, practice self-care, navigate change and uncertainty, and set effective goals for themselves. In school, at work, and in their community, they will be a stronger, more empathetic, and happier leader.
Extensive Community Service Experience
Delegates don’t just practice leadership skills at PALS–they put them into action. At PALS at FIU, your child will collaborate on a Public Service Announcement (PSA) inspiring their peers to take action on an issue they care about. For two hours each day, your child will work on a team to research, write, film, edit, and present a quality, 2.5-minute PSA while applying the interpersonal and team management skills they’re learning in PALS. The team with the most meaningful PSA will proudly take home the Best PSA Award, and every delegate will take home the confidence to collaboratively lead change in their own community.
Your child will also collaborate on PALS at FIU’s signature service project, “Mark My Words: Bookmarks for Bright Futures.” They will directly serve FIU’s surrounding Miami community by designing bookmarks with motivational messages for local Title I elementary school students, encouraging them to develop a love of reading.
After completing service at PALS, delegates are often inspired to go further: many go on to co-lead six-month capstone service projects in NVEEE’s Peace Ambassador Leadership Program (PALP). During the school year, PALP students earn 50-100 service hours taking action on the community problems they are most passionate about by creating solutions like awareness campaigns and donation drives. The next summer, some students give back to their community and become PALS Junior Counselors, and others give back by taking action in their colleges, workplaces, and broader communities.
Your high schooler’s PALS (and PALP) community service can pay for their college tuition–they can apply their service hours towards Florida Bright Futures Scholarship awards, which cover up to 100% of their in-state Florida university tuition and applicable fees. You can celebrate your child’s achievements at the PALS Graduation Ceremony when they earn their Certificate of Completion, and they might also bring home the Best PSA Award and special awards for demonstrating outstanding leadership, like the Catalyst for Change and Bridge Builder Awards.
When PALS participants volunteer extensively with and earn awards from a congressionally recognized nonprofit, they show colleges and employers that they are a leader dedicated to taking action on the issues they care most about. Their service gives them the competitive advantage they need for college applications and the confidence to inspire change in their community. You’ll be proud of your young leader, and they’ll be proud of the lasting impact they’re making.
83.7% of delegates felt confident serving their community as a leader by the last day of PALS at FIU 2024.
Register Today!
At PALS at FIU, we will empower your high schooler to lead with empathy in college, their workplace, and their community. PALS won’t just make them look like a leader to colleges and employers–it will make them a leader for life.
Interested in registering your child? Fill out the registration form here, or learn more at our PALS at FIU webpage. You can also read our most frequently asked questions here.
Register your high schooler today! We look forward to helping them lead their success in college and beyond.
The surveys that this post’s testimonials were drawn from were anonymous for best results.
About NVEEE
National Voices for Equality, Education, and Enlightenment (NVEEE) is a congressionally recognized nonprofit empowering youth to become resilient, socially responsible leaders through direct service, leadership development, mentoring, and prevention education. Our mission is to empower the next generation of leaders to build a society where inclusion, equity, and empathy are at the forefront—creating spaces where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued.
You can learn more about NVEEE and our mission, programs, and opportunities to get involved by visiting our website.
About the Author
Emily Gross is an NVEEE Marketing and Communications intern in the Content Writing and Editing subcommittee. When she isn’t writing or editing for work or college, she’s often reading (admiring someone’s writing) or stumbling across spelling errors in content (sort of editing.) She’s currently pursuing an undergraduate degree at the University of Florida.