How to Build Leaders Who Build Leaders in Schools

How the Peer Impact Program evolved from exclusive leadership to sustainable student empowerment

Building Leaders Who Build Leaders Starts with Who We Choose

I have been working on what is now the Peer Impact Program since I became a teacher in 2005.

In those early years, I noticed something powerful: students were already leading other students. The natural next step seemed obvious — select the best students and position them to mentor younger ones. As a teacher, there was tremendous value in working with high-achieving, compliant students. They were responsible. They modeled success. They made programs look strong.

And there was growth happening.

What I didn’t see at the time were the missed opportunities.

I didn’t see the older students who could have developed new confidence if given the chance.I didn’t see the younger students who needed to see someone who looked like them in leadership.I didn’t see that leadership had quietly become a coveted space instead of a cultivated one.

Because the program was working, I didn’t question it.

When Leadership Feels Exclusive

As an adult in those early spaces, I didn’t have many opportunities to explore leadership in a different way either. Not everyone was invited in. Not everyone belonged. The adult role, like the student role, felt limited.

In 2018, I stepped into a new leadership position working directly with students. It was exciting — and incredibly challenging.

Some students made sure I knew they didn’t believe I could do the job. Others expressed full confidence in me. The contrast was intense. A few moments nearly broke me as a teacher.

Looking back, I can see what was really happening.

I was shedding a skin that didn’t fit anymore.

But at the time, it just felt hard.

Version 1: Leadership Is a Skill — Not a Status

The first official version of the Peer Impact Program launched in 2021, after I left the classroom. It was an after-school program with students who were new to America.

And everything I thought I knew about student leadership was tested.

These students were not the compliant, high-achieving students I once preferred to work with. They didn’t automatically see themselves as leaders. Many of them didn’t even believe leadership was an option.

That forced a shift.

If the goal was building leaders who build leaders, then I couldn’t rely on selecting “natural leaders.” I had to teach leadership skills. I had to create experiences that developed confidence. I had to help students see something in themselves before they fully believed it.

It was harder than I expected.

And it changed everything.

Today, I no longer spend my time convincing students they are leaders. Now we focus on helping them become the best leaders they can be — and on building a leadership culture within partner organizations like the Center for New Americans. Leadership is no longer an individual title. It is a shared responsibility.

Testing Sustainability in Schools

As the program evolved, I tested it in multiple schools.

The first school loved the idea of teaching leadership to all incoming freshmen. The vision was bold and inclusive. But we hadn’t yet mastered the systems needed to sustain it. Funding was limited. Training wasn’t efficient enough.

Without my weekly facilitation, the program couldn’t stand on its own.

It was a valuable lesson: inspiration is not the same as infrastructure.

The second school had funding and commitment. This time, we began with students who were already volunteering — students who often end up doing everything and are stretched thin.

In year two, we made a bold decision: we would pull my facilitation away and let the students lead independently.

It was uncomfortable.

I wasn’t sure they were ready.

But I had learned something essential: we may never feel fully ready. And waiting for readiness can quietly delay growth.

The students rose to the challenge.

The program is now growing faster without my weekly presence than it did when I was there. I also developed professional development for educators in the building, helping them examine biases and begin seeing students as more capable and ready to lead than we often assume.

The biggest lesson?

Building leaders who build leaders means stepping back before you feel comfortable doing so.

Leadership Is Distributed, Not Centralized

We often imagine leadership as one person at the top pulling the strings.

But through the Peer Impact Program, I have seen something different.

Organizations are stronger when leadership capacity is distributed. When students understand the direction. When educators see potential instead of limitation. When systems are built so that growth continues without a single personality driving it.

Right now, I’m in month 12 of a 15-month implementation timeline with one partner school. By month 15, they will be ready to launch without direct management from Peers Not Fears. There will still be lessons to learn. There always are.

But there will also be students confidently sustaining the work with minimal adult oversight.

That is the goal.

Not dependence.Not control.Not perfection.

Capacity.

The Work Is Never Finished — And That’s the Point

I would love to say I have perfected the Peer Impact Program.

But I hope I never do.

Leadership development is alive. It evolves with every partnership, every school, every student cohort. If I ever feel like it’s “done,” I’ve probably stopped listening.

Right now, I’m in what feels like a honeymoon phase — seeing clearly how this program can change the lives of teenagers who may never have seen themselves as leaders before.

Building leaders who build leaders takes time. It takes discomfort. It takes releasing control. It takes trusting teenagers sooner than feels safe.

But when leadership becomes a shared culture instead of a selective club, the impact multiplies far beyond one program, one school, or one adult.

And that is work worth building.