Big Sister at Ross eager to take leading role

Haley Lefevers works on Ross’ Family, Career and Community Leaders of America’s scrapbook for the upcoming STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) competition.

Richard O Jones Haley Lefevers works on Ross’ Family, Career and Community Leaders of America’s scrapbook for the upcoming STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) competition.

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By Richard O Jones, Staff Writer Updated 8:49 AM Monday, March 15, 2010

ROSS TWP. — When Haley Lefevers started going to Ross High School, she didn’t have much besides her school work to occupy her time.

“She wasn’t doing sports or choir or anything, so we tried to get her on the volunteer advisory board,” said her mother, Leslie Lefevers.

Little did they realize they were creating a dynamo.

She first started working as a Big Sister in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, and has been active in the Partners Against Hate program at Ross, where she mentors middle school students on issues of school related violence and bullying with weekly sessions.

She also serves as the president of the Ross chapter of Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, an organization dedicated to promoting personal growth and leadership through family and consumer sciences education.

When she heard about Rachel’s Challenge, a national school violence prevention program inspired by the writing of Rachel Scott, the first student killed in the Columbine High School incident in 1999, Lefevers used her FCCLA pulpit to bring it to Ross.

“I went onto the Web site and taught myself about it,” she said. “I felt it would be valuable for our school. It’s important to teach others and to prevent bullying, even if you don’t see it happening.”

“It’s a very expensive project to get into,” said counselor Barb Krack, Partners Against Hate advisor. “Haley organized fundraisers and designed T-shirts that we sold to raise money to bring it here.”

Part of Rachel’s Challenge is to create a Friends Of Rachel club, and Lefevers has taken leadership on that as well, organizing the seniors to work on ways to keep the lessons of Rachel’s Challenge alive for next year’s freshman class.

“I love the program and I still feel very inspired and touched by it,” Lefevers said.

Her teachers say that Lefevers is a “natural leader,” willing to take on a project and dog it to completion.

“She’s very efficient and capable of accomplishing anything she sets her mind to,” said Becky Berling, an FCCLA advisor.

Lefevers’ future plans include attending the culinary arts school at Cincinnati State College to study pastry arts and business.

“I want to own my own business,” she said, “and I want to use it to help people in as many ways as possible.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.

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