HPU Hosts High School Students at 11th Annual Youth Leadership Academy
HIGH POINT, N.C., June 19, 2025 – High Point University and the High Point Police Department (HPPD) kicked off the 11th Annual Youth Leadership Academy for 25 high school students from across the Piedmont Triad on June 16.
The academy provides opportunities for the local teens to develop their leadership skills. Each summer, HPU partners with the HPPD to co-host and support the two-week academy, which brings together nine officers and high school student leaders from 13 schools.
The teenagers were selected for competitive spots in the program by HPPD school resource officers. Participants will build their leadership skills while completing service projects and activities at organizations around the city of High Point. They will also tour the HPU campus and learn more about leadership from guest speakers from HPU, the police department and the community.
“It’s an honor to host the HPPD Leadership Academy and welcome such promising young leaders to our campus,” said Lyndsey Ayers, HPU’s assistant vice president for university relations. “These students engage in meaningful conversations about leadership and character—skills that will serve them for life. High Point University remains committed to supporting the city of High Point and investing in the next generation of community leaders.”
High Point Police Chief Curtis Cheeks III was the first speaker to address the students on campus following the HPPD Honor Guard’s presentation of colors, the academy blessing, the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem.
“This opportunity is for rising ninth graders through 12th graders in high school,” said HPPD Officer Devon Williamson. “It’s all about teaching them and showing what leadership is and how to display it. We’re taking students who already are showing leadership qualities and trying to fine-tune that. We’re bringing in speakers who are leaders in their own field right now, and those leaders are going to pour into the students. The students are going to take from that and hopefully go out into the world and become leaders themselves as adults.”
Lenox Jones, a senior at Southwest Guilford High School, said she hopes to learn more about herself through the experience.
“I feel like I’m going to learn more about confidence and leadership before I go off to college, which is very needed because you’re not always going to be with your parents and you need to be able to rely on yourself and figure out stuff on your own,” Jones said. “I applied for this, and over the summer I’ve been taking some internships. I want to be a leader in crime scene investigation, but I’m going to have to rank myself up. I’ve had many talks with retired CSIs and current CSIs, and I know that’s going to be a lot of work, especially to become a leader of it.”
Jayden Deaton, a Southwest Guilford Middle School student, decided to participate in the leadership academy rather than devote time this summer to his usual athletics.
“I wanted to try something out, see what I could do with it and get more opportunities to do things that I wouldn’t usually do,” he said. “By helping in the community, I feel like it’s something that will add to my experiences that colleges will look at. By being around other young people, I can ask questions about high school as I work my way through.”
Activities for the HPPD Youth Leadership Academy students include:
- Beautification projects at Southwest Guilford Middle School and Andrews High
School - Touring the Honda Jet site at Piedmont Triad International Airport
- Touring the Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina
- Visiting residents at Brookdale Retirement Center
- Traveling to explore Mount Shepherd
- Swimming at High Point City Lake Park
- Volunteering to assist Out of the Garden, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in the Piedmont Triad
- Completing team-building exercises and a high ropes course
- Activities at the HPPD and Fire Training Academy
- Playing kickball with police officers at Truist Point, the High Point Rockers’ stadium