Lyndon Institute sophomore, Tim Tester, was recognized as the sole recipient of the Outstanding Student Award at Norwich Youth Leadership Conference held this spring on Norwich’s campus. The conference is a nationally recognized Military Order of the World-Wars sponsored program for high school students. The objective of the program is to advance students’ leadership skills through intensive hands-on programming in leadership, teamwork, and communications.

Over the course of the weekend, Tim and his peers who were selected from around the United States, participated in lessons covering the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, free enterprise, personal finance, and physical activities such a climbing wall training. Tim spent two nights at Norwich University participating in tailored activities, including taking the US Citizenship test. Based on these results and overall performance throughout the conference, Tim was nominated as the Outstanding Student out of approximately 30 other participants. Upon applying to the 2023 Youth Leadership Conference, each student was required to submit an essay about “What it Means to be an American Citizen” and to describe what these rights and responsibilities mean to them. 

Tim has a strong interest in applying for the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD during his senior year. He aspires to serve as a Naval officer. Tim stated that he enjoys the aspects of the military, “which focus on responsibility, self-respect, and character development.” His big takeaways from being a part of Norwich’s Youth Leadership Conference, “is the discipline required to be a part of the military in a leadership position. I also enjoyed learning more about the Constitution.”

Tim commented that he was able to connect with several great mentors through this experience and is looking forward to his years ahead as an upperclassman at Lyndon Institute working towards a future in the armed forces.