Leadership Academy

Leadership Academy

Ed Thomas Legacy Leadership Academy - for 9th-12th Graders 

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UPDATED Sept. 9th 2022:

We will be ramping up this years academy on Wednesday Oct 5th from 9am to 12pm

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Coach Thomas was a leader whose main objective was teaching young people to “Do What’s Right”. He was a great role model who lived his life true to the values that he taught to all. The Ed Thomas Family Foundation will provide an opportunity for high school students to strengthen their positive leadership skills and character by sponsoring the Ed Thomas Legacy Leadership Academy.

REGISTRATION

Closed

FEE

$10 per perticipant

*Checks can be mailed to: Ed Thomas Family Foundation, P.O. Box 536, Parkersburg, IA 50665.

LIMIT

Each school is limited to no more than 10 student participants and 2 supervisors per school. Registration will be on a first-come-first-serve basis as we fill up very quickly.

WHERE

Aplington-Parkersburg High School

610 N. Johnson St., Parkersburg, IA 50665

SCHEDULE + ACTIVITIES
 

SPEAKER BIOS

AL KERNS

Former Teacher and Coach at Aplington-Parkersburg.

Al Kerns began teaching and coaching at Parkersburg High School in 1978. He retired from Aplington- Parkersburg in 2014 after 36 years of teaching. During his career at Parkersburg/ Aplington-Parkersburg, he was an assistant coach to Ed Thomas for over 30 years and the head girls’ track coach for 29 years.

JIM MILLER

Coach Jim Miller came into an under-performing program at Wartburg College, that had-not won a Conference Championship in 14 years. By the time he retired in 2013 the team had won 21 conference titles in a row.

Wartburg College had not had an athletic national championship in any sport in history, It only took 5 years for Coach Miller's team to win a national championship in 1996, and 9 more followed for a total of 10. In his 22 year as head coach, his teams finished first or second in the nation 18 times

Coach mill will share with you his secrets of how to win the battles ahead and the benefits of going the Extra Mile for yourself and your team.

AARON THOMAS

High School Principal Aplington-Parkersburg.

Aaron Thomas is the oldest son of the Late Ed Thomas. At a young age, Aaron knew he wanted to go into education and coaching because he saw the impact his father was able to have on young people. Every day he witnessed the passion Ed Thomas displayed while working with young people.

MORE ABOUT OUR ACADEMY

The Ed Thomas Legacy Leadership Academy was established to carry forward what Coach Thomas was most passionate about -impacting young people. Coach Thomas always claimed that the school was his mission field and he spent his life trying to help students realize their potential and the impact they can have on others.

The Ed Thomas Family Foundation is committed to carrying on Coach Thomas’ legacy by passing on his philosophies to students. Our first Ed Thomas Legacy Leadership Academy was held on October 2, 2014 at Aplington-Parkersburg High School with over 490 students and supervisors in attendance. The response was so positive that we have continued to offer our academies each fall and spring.  We have held five academies with over 2,300 students and supervisors in attendance.  With our academies we hope to continue impacting young people to become positive leaders in their schools and communities.

This was such an awesome motivating day! I believe every student we brought got a ton out of this! ~ I wish our whole school could have attended! ~Thank you for hosting this event. Our kids & I loved it. We'll be back. A first class event. ~ You did a tremendous job of inspiring the young athletes I brought with me and energizing me to continue my work in the education and athletic arena. ~ It was an amazing experience! I learned so much that I hope to bring back to my school.

- Leadership Reviews, comments from students and supervisors on the first leadership academy

I have been in education and have coached for over 20 years. I've never been through a more meaningful day with students than I did last week at the Ed Thomas Leadership Academy. As soon as we got into our suburban to drive back to Creston, my students talked about what they had heard and how we could immediately implement change in our school. They talked the entire way home! I've never had an experience with students like that! We are in the process of developing a leadership course for students here at Creston High School. This was the first step in the development. I've gathered a lot of great ideas that we can implement with our students. Again, THANK YOU. You guys were right - something good can come out of something bad. I will continue to bring Creston students to the Ed Thomas Academy.

- Todd Jacobson, Creston HS

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