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Sharing words of wisdom from Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, General George S. Patton and modern-day pastor and author John C. Maxwell, high school students hoping to one day be decision-makers in Montgomery County honed their skills and learned new ones.

Students in Youth Leadership Montgomery, a program that teaches young people leadership skills, community awareness and confidence, shared the inspiring quotes at a recent session designed to improve their public speaking skills.

Not all 14 students at the Oct. 15 meeting of the group took their inspiration from influential men and women though. Lissette Escobar, 15, a sophomore at Poolesville High School, found hers on a T-shirt: "Leadership is action, not a position."

The 14th class of Youth Leadership Montgomery is comprised of students from public and private schools. The program is funded by tuition and a grant from the Roberta F. and Lawrence A. Schulman Youth Leadership Endowment. Tuition is $750 and financial assistance is available.

Program facilitator Kati Gimes said the biggest difference she sees in graduates is the boost in confidence.

"Definitely they open up and get more confident. They recognize what they need to change to get what they want," Gimes said.

Dylan Stabbe, 16, a junior at Bullis School in Potomac, considers Youth Leadership Montgomery an investment in her future.

"I know this is not an immediate thing. It will help me later in life, like the public speaking," Dylan said after a session led by Art Dwight, a 1999 graduate of the adult Leadership Montgomery program, which unites community leaders through a nine-month program designed to help them understand county issues.

Dwight, President of One Decision LLC and author of two books on decision making for businesses, shared how he overcame his early fear of public speaking. He taught the high schoolers three keys to good communication: prepare, practice and perform.

When it was the students' turn to stand before the group, they each shared a quote they brought to the class.

Aurin Chakravarty, 15, a sophomore at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, selected a saying from former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger:

"The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been."

And then Aurin defended his choice. "This quote is really powerful. A leader should, does, get people to a point they haven't known," Aurin said.

It was a time of vulnerability as each member stood before the group. The students attended a weeklong Maryland Youth Leadership workshop the first week of August at Washington College in Chestertown and were helpful with their critiques of each other after the public-speaking session.

Diana Vergara, 17, a senior at Northwood High School in Silver Spring, said the camp was a great learning experience.

"It was fun to get to know each other. We did a trust circle, had to work on presentation skills and other activities. Methods like that were more effective than just listening," she said.

The students will share more experiences during the three-month program, including shadowing a professional from a career of interest and doing a community research project.

Isabel Argoti, 16, a junior at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, knows what she would like to do with her leadership training.

"I want to raise the percentage of Hispanic students who graduate high school and go on to college. I want to research that for my project," she said.

pmcewan@gazette.net