Parent Partnership

Participating in events and discussions to encourage curiosity, broaden knowledge and perspectives.

About

The Leadership by Design (LBD) program is fundamentally a partnership with parents to provide students with meaningful opportunities and educational experiences. The LBD’s central message to parents is this:

“You have always wished for an individual or organization to step in and complement your efforts to ensure your child’s success. You believe your child’s prospects for future achievement will be enhanced through the development of leadership skills, an effective career exploration program, and opportunities that amplify their talents and optimize their ambitions. We wholeheartedly agree!”

The LBD-parent partnership is grounded in research demonstrating that “parents’ educational expectations for their children play a significant role in whether students from all backgrounds persist toward completion of high school and whether they attend a post-secondary institution. This study also finds parent participation in school functions to be a significant positive predictor of both high school completion and post-secondary enrolment.” While LBD programming offers dedicated tracks for students and parents, there are occasions, such as the symposium on democracy, when both convene. We encourage students and parents to jointly attend select cultural events, as post-event reflective conversations between students and parents can positively shape student attitudes towards learning.

The LBD-parent collaboration mirrors the well-known ‘hockey-parent partnership’ where inconvenient ice rink availability causes dedicated parents to take kids to the rink at inopportune times. In both cases, hockey and LBD, parents must transport the child to the venue, provide essential gear, encourage participation, act as cheerleaders, and serve as natural mentors and sources of daily inspiration. The LBD encourages parents to demonstrate, in every way, that their child’s education truly matters.

The LBD strives to cultivate a meaningful community for students, while also offering a sense of belonging to parents. For parents, LBD provides curated opportunities to contribute more time and energy to their child’s development, deepen their knowledge of the educational system, and better understand the broader society their child must navigate. The LBD encourages parents to connect with one another and to accompany their students to conferences, lectures, social gatherings, and cultural arts events. On most LBD Saturday Sessions, a special track for parents is offered, featuring subject-matter experts on topics such as democracy, AI, LinkedIn, cyber safety, OSAP financial assistance, financial literacy, study skills, navigating the school system, civic engagement, understanding the school course selection process, and post-secondary education.

When Pursue STEM students meet at University of Toronto on Saturday afternoons, many parents choose to wait on campus. On these occasions, parents are welcomed into a dedicated waiting area with coffee and WiFi. Parents matter. Where workshops are provided online, such as LBD’s Excel Workshop, parents are invited to participate. Parents are integral to every aspect of the LBD program.

Outstanding learning opportunities abound for all students. Nevertheless, many Black students and their parents remain unaware of the full range of possibilities available, or may feel uncertain about whether opportunities are intended for them. Some Black parents may recognize extraordinary opportunities for their children, yet for complex reasons, may not pursue them. The LBD serves as Chief Encouragement Officer, introducing Black parents and students to the broadest array of high-quality learning experiences and bridging perceived or real divides between special opportunities and Black youth engagement. LBD opens doors. Today, LBD students attend theatre performances, conferences, and social galas with confidence, and they also participate in extraordinary learning opportunities such as Shad Canada and the Model United Nations program which is hosted by University of Toronto School (UTS). As a result, LBD students are confidently choosing post-secondary programs and career fields in which Black representation has historically been limited. As LBD student Hannah Flores puts it, students are learning to confidently be ‘the only Black person in the room.’

There is no need for LBD to remind parents that student success, however defined, depends on a solid educational foundation. Parents innately understand this, and their enduring commitment is to find a partner capable of complementing their child’s high school experience with meaningful out-of-school opportunities that the standard high school curriculum struggles to provide. The LBD is that partner.

Parent Voice — LBD Parent of a Cohort C23 Student (Gr. 10 when note written)
Reflections after hearing an address by Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO).

Apologies for the late response, my initial thought was that the LBD programs (in general) were only intended for students and wouldn’t add anything significant to the parents’ experience. That impression was quickly dispelled when I attended the first session, in which valuable and inspiring conversations took place detailing the challenges both students and parents will face on the journey to success, and the ways to overcome these by remaining resilient and resolute with a determination to make it, ‘to be somebody.’

I am very grateful for the LBD program. I offer my immense gratitude to you and your special team for your labour of love and sacrifice which cannot be quantified. The LBD program is an answer to our prayers — for a couple years my wife and I have prayed for a program like yours that is geared towards Black children, to inspire and motivate them to dream, to follow their passion and to become the purpose-driven leader they were destined to be. My daughter attends a school with only a handful of Black students, and we’ve thought of pulling her out given the racial micro-aggression that she and her younger sister have experienced in the school system. The LBD program has helped to put a smile back on their faces. She has made new friends and is elated that the LBD program has afforded her the opportunity to connect with other students that look like her and are equally passionate about post-secondary studies. This program has helped to instill back in our daughter confidence and pride — a pride rooted in being Black/young/intelligent, and unapologetic about her Black identity.

The October 21 event had a massive impact on me and is one of my main reasons for providing this feedback to add to the other testimonials of your impact and influence to Black families. I had to replace my wife at the last minute to attend the event, in hindsight I know I was meant to attend.

Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser’s presentation impacted me at various levels, particularly as a parent with respect to fanning the embers of my daughter’s academic and professional passions and aspirations, and teaching her about the importance of remaining resilient and confident despite life’s challenges. I came out of that event with a renewed, burning passion — I was so inspired that I wrote down some of my life’s visions in that hall. Like Daniel mentioned, sometimes what you’re passionate about may not be supported, even dismissed by naysayers and it sometimes gets discouraging.

That event was just what I needed to revive my passion for ministry and pursuing postgraduate studies. Special thanks to you and your phenomenal team, for all that you have done and continue to do.

With kindest regards,
LBD Parent
(Edited for length and privacy)