The Southern Youth Leadership Development Institute Takes Students to Houston, TX
Montgomery, AL- The Southern Youth Leadership Development Institute (SYLDI) has taken students from its summer camp to visit Houston, Texas. The trip, sponsored by Alabama native and Occidental President and CEO Vicki Hollub and the company’s Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (DIB) team , provided students the opportunity to apply SYLDI’s six pillars and gain real-world experience.
SYLDI focuses on six pillars of development for students that participate in the program. The six pillars are 1) Leadership: Building skills through mentoring and yearlong leadership development by the founder of the organization and other influential community leaders, 2) Career Readiness: providing college preparation, and facilitating soft skill sessions. Also resume building, interview skills, employment each, and how to articulate your goals, 3) Civic Engagement: learning about government and how democracy works by visiting local, state, and federal officials. Learning how to write a bill and how to bring it to the floor and the importance of voting, 4) Health and Wellness: addressing physical and mental trauma and education on ways they can take control of their health challenges. Also teaching food preparation and how to shop and eat healthy, 5) Communication: working on projects that involve the students’ written and verbal skills like debate and debate preparation, as well as an Arts and Film Camp, and 6) Financial Literacy: How to create a checking and savings account, as well as how to develop a budget. Students participate in an intense training on the future of investing and financial independence from experts.
With the support of Occidental’s Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (DIB) team and the Black Employee Network (BEN), executives provided the SYLDI students with an overview of the oil and gas industry, the company’s operations, and examples of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM jobs in the industry. . Babatunde Cole, President & GM of Occidental’s Delaware Basin oil and gas operations, was the keynote for this event. The visit also included a demonstration of the robotic dog that Occidental uses for surveillance at its facilities to ensure systems are operating properly or test for potential issues, without putting employees in harm’s way.
“We were very pleased to host Doris Crenshaw and the SYLDI students during their first-ever visit to Houston, home of NASA and the heart of the U.S. energy industry,” Vicki Hollub said. “It was a chance for the students to engage, face-to-face with professionals from their community, which sparks hope and provides impact and influence that we hope changes the trajectory of their futures.”
While on the trip, students visited Dillard University and Texas Southern University, as well as the NASA Johnson Space Center and Occidental’s corporate headquarters, . At each location, students worked with individuals and groups to use the parts of the six pillars and gain real world experience.
###
The Southern Youth Leadership Development Institute (SYLDI) was established, by civil rights leader Doris Crenshaw, in Montgomery, Alabama, in 2004, to train youth to combat the inequalities of education. SYLDI inspires, cultivates, and trains youth with leadership potential to bring about a more disciplined approach to problem identification and resolution of issues that impact education policies.