‘I just want the kids to have passion in what they want to do’: Locals visit students to discuss leadership
About 20 community leaders and local business professionals congregated at Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School in Burbank on Friday to talk with students about being leaders to coincide with the birthday of the the school’s namesake.
From the local board of education president to an executive of Amazon Studios, all the guests that morning fielded questions from students about how they lead and how they got their leadership roles.
For about 20 years, the school has been celebrating President Roosevelt’s birthday in different ways, and this year, kindergarten teacher Linda Walmsley thought it would be a good idea to bring in representatives from the community to talk about leadership.
“In my 47 years as a teacher, you never know what’s going to happen,” Walmsley said. “You do these things in hopes of inspiring these kids.”
Using Burbank Board of Education President Steve Ferguson — who was one of the guests that morning — as an example, Walmsley said there was probably something that happened during his time at Roosevelt, where he was a student, that sparked his interest in speaking on issues he believes in.
“And now he’s on TV every other Thursday [during school board meetings], telling the whole world about that,” Walmsley said.
Ferguson spent his morning talking with John Pike’s third-grade class about his role on the board of education and how decisions he and his colleagues make affect students.
The first few questions Ferguson received were about what he does as the board president, but the topic quickly changed to the best places for someone to get ice cream.
“It’s important to expose young people to different types of leaders in our community, and I love and celebrate the fact that the staff here feels that that’s important as well,” Ferguson said. “Whether or not the students have a full understanding of what I do or what any of these leaders do, they do know that I like ice cream and that they like ice cream. So if I like ice cream, then they can be whatever they want.”
J.D. Black, senior marketing lead of original movies at Amazon Studios and whose son attends Roosevelt Elementary, said it was a pleasure to stop by and speak with students about his love of movies.
“I just want the kids to have passion in what they want to do and find what they are interested in and pursue that,” Black said.
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
