GLEC Service Leadership Program
last updated November 7, 2011
The GLEC Student Leadership Program was started in 1986. It involved students from six high schools: Andover H.S., Greater Lawrence Tech, Lawrence H.S., Haverhill H.S., Methuen H.S. and North Andover H.S., who came together several times a month to plan and produce joint activities in each others' communities. Each "'GLEC' chapter" had an advisor and about 10 members, which grew for special events. The students referred to this program as "GLEC," as in "where is the GLEC meeting tonight?" (They traveled to each other's schools for the meetings, meeting some years at a centralized location such as the Heritage State Park Visitors Center, or the GLEC Central Office in Lawrence or Methuen. They produced many large scale events often involving several hundreds of students, from September until early spring. Every year, since 1986 they produced a spring conference, hosted by a different school, attended by classmates from all 6 schools. They also produced forums with community leaders, testified at the state house on matters important to them, read to students, mentored students, had younger pen pals, did annual river cleanups, food drives, toy and book drives, visits to elderly, interschool exchanges, coffee houses, recreational events, dances, interviewed presidential candidates, published a regional newspaper called The Link, and played a role in the creation of the running of GLEC's literary magazines, especially AppleSeed. They were a creative, talented, passionate and busy lot. In the middle of all of this they learned solid leadership skills and made lots of new friends. The program seemed to work quite well by most measures, but funding became an issue when Haverhill (which had one of the most committed and active chapters) withdrew their support of the GLEC Multicultural Enrichment initiative in 2004 and the leadership program was the first casualty.
Purpose of the program:
- To build leadership skills in youth.
- To empower students to bring about positive social change on issues important to them.
- To reduce racism and break down negative stereotypes and prejudice between communities.
- To foster a culture of friendship, learning, cooperation, and appreciation between the schools.
Here is a partial list of some of the highlights of this program, which ran from the 1985-1986 school year through the 2003-2004 school year.
| Year, Annual Conference hosted by | Topic of Conference, other projects and comments |
| 1986, AHS | Drinking and Driving |
| 1987, LHS | Organ Donation Awareness |
| 1988, MHS | Students United for Responsible Fun (SURF) |
| 1989, HHS | Human Rights Awareness/Amnesty International |
| 1990, NAHS | Racism (Break the Chain) |
| 1991, AHS | Environment (Save the Earth) + Local projects at each school ('STOP," Food Drives, etc.) |
| 1992, LHS | 3 Topics: Cross Cultural Awareness, Teen Issues (AIDS, Suicide), MIA/POW Controversy. Partner Schools Visits + 2 issues of The Link Newspaper. |
| 1993, MHS | 3 topics: Gang and Domestic Violence, Date Rape, Homophobia + Hotline Directory + Partner School Expansion + Link newspaper Expansion (3 issues) |
| 1994, HHS | Condom Distribution, School Stereotypes, Adultism. More meetings and more leadership training + Link produced 3 issues, but longer and thematically oriented. Middle School Project + Boston Globe covers our program + Multicultural Award from DOE for all 6 chapters with honors at JFK Museum |
| 1995, NAHS | Expansion of Community Service Activities large Scale Merrimack River Trail project on "Make a Difference Day" 4 issues of the Link, increased circulation. |
| 1996 | |
| 1997 | |
| 1998 | |
| 1999 | |
| 2000 | |
| 2001 | |
| 2002 | |
| 2003 | |
| 2004 |
Spicket River Petition
Let’s All Help to Keep It Clean!
September 18, 2004
Whereas, the Spicket River has suffered from many years of abuse and neglect; and
Whereas, the Spicket River has great potential to be an important recreational resource for Lawrence; and
Whereas, there are no visible signs identifying the river by name anywhere in Lawrence; and
Whereas, there are many areas of fence along the river which have been pushed down or destroyed; and
Whereas, there is chronic careless littering and considerable illegal dumping into the river and onto its banks; and
Whereas, this dumping and littering pollutes the river, obscures its natural beauty, hinders recreational and educational use, and restricts the flow of water, thereby increasing the chance of flooding of parks and neighborhoods along the river, thus putting life and property in danger;
Therefore, We, the undersigned, by signing this petition, urge the City of Lawrence to:
- post signs along the Spicket River to identify it by name and to
- post signs to discourage littering and dumping, and to
- repair the broken fences along the river, and to
- enforce the littering and dumping laws and ordinances of the City of Lawrence and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and to
- educate the public on this matter.
And we also encourage all people to:
- obey these laws and ordinances and to
- work individually and in groups to clean, maintain and respect the Spicket River and to educate others, so that the Spicket River becomes a source of pride to all Lawrencians and to the people of the Merrimack Valley.
Page Last modified: February 09 2012 13:41:48.