Welcome to the 200 or so educators who are in Vicksburg today and Friday attending the Leader in Me Mississippi symposium at the Vicksburg Convention Center.

Vicksburg is happy to be hosting the event again this year.

The Leader in Me is an important part of the Vicksburg Warren School District. The program has brought together the leaders in our business community and educators, who have partnered to teach our elementary and middle school students how to unleash the leader within themselves in order to reach their full potential.

What began as a program within a select few Vicksburg Warren School District elementary schools has now grown to every elementary in the district. And, it’s hoped that all students middle school and below will be able to take advantage of the Leader in Me program soon.

The results shown in our students because of the Leader in Me is nothing short of amazing. Mississippi’s Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann visited our public schools during the first semester of this year and brought along one of his friends in the Mississippi Senate, Chad McMahan, R-Guntown. The students in the elementary led the two on tours through the schools, explained how programs worked and answered questions. Hosemann and McMahan were beyond impressed with the poise and knowledge of these elementary school students.

Welcome, too, to Sean Covey, who is keynote speaker today at the Leader in Me symposium. Covey is son of Stephen Covey, creator of the wildly popular self-help book first published in the 1990s, “The Seven Habits of Highly-Effective People.”

FranklinCovey’s Leader in Me bases its program on those seven habits.

We hope you enjoy your time in Vicksburg and that Leader in Me works as well for you and your students as it has and is for ours.