Empowering Student Leaders as Catalysts for Positive Culture

American boarding schools provide a unique environment to explore positive psychology interventions as they relate to both adolescents as individuals, as members of a leadership group and the school community as a unit. Through exploring positive psychology theories and interventions as well as recent findings about the adolescent brain, this capstone integrates the two to build a student leadership curriculum grounded in strategies to meet adolescents where they are and guide them toward safe and self-regulated development capable of contributing to the well-being of a community. Explorations in positive psychology; the adolescent brain; the intersection of positive education and boarding schools; and building of authentic and servant leadership styles in adolescents; inform a series of curricular activities intended to empower student leaders as culture catalysts on their campus. These activities concentrate on the researches areas of character strengths, self-compassion, and high-quality connections as each relate to the well-being of student leaders and contribute to their ability to impact a community