Be one of the first 80!  Learn more and register here →

Also, check out our latest video showing clips from our Leadership Academy and promoting The First 80!

Click for the video montage of ELC Leadership Presentation at Boston College!

For the second year in a row, the Boston College Shaw Leadership Program invited the ELC to speak to and inspire it’s students.  Following the first year of the Leadership Presentation, the ELC was voted the best  presentation of the year by the Shaw students and was awarded with the premier slot for this past spring.  Check out the video montage above, created by a Shaw House Student Leader.  It is always a privilege for us to present to these fantastic Boston College students!

The ELC Leadership Academy at Hopkinton Middle School has officially closed! Congratulations to all 8th grade students who committed their lives to becoming positive leaders for the last three weeks!  Your dedication, energy and growth is to be commended.  On behalf of the entire ELC Teaching Staff, current ELC members, and the ELC founding students, I welcome you all into our special Club! It is a way of life in which we live as positive leaders, take control of our own attitudes, and continually work to serve and positively empower others. The road of positive leadership doesn’t stop here, it begins here.  ELC as many people in your life as you can, don’t forget to ELC yourself once in a while, and post your stories by clicking here.

Our newest Enjoy Life Club members!

Final Questions/Comments/Feedback:

Please feel free to email Evren J. Gunduz

egunduz@hopkinton.k12.ma.us

Enjoy Life!

In addition, yesterday was a big day for Evren in another capacity as was given the opportunity to meet one on one with the U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg at the U.S. Embassy. They discussed a broad range of topics including Leadership Education in schools, life and the future growth of the ELC Leadership Academy.  Evren was HIGHLY impressed with the Ambassador and described him as a down-to-earth, incredibly intelligent, insightful, honest and humble man who is a model of positive leadership.  After the one hour meeting, Evren acknowledged that he has gained a new role-model and mentor in his life who he will strive to be more like.  Prior to his meeting with Ambassador Mandell, Evren was given a private tour of the European Court of Justice by one of the courts high ranking employees.

Upon Evren’s completion of the ELC Leadership Academy tour in Europe and his return to the United States in a few weeks, he will provide us with loads of pictures and videos of the ELC’s adventure and success!  Here are a few resources and pics to check out in the meantime:

Link: Leadership Academy’s latest positive media article online (written in French)

Link: Information about the European Court of Justice

Positive feedback from the lead organizing teacher who brought the ELC to Europe:

“As teachers, we are very fortunate  to have this incredible opportunity to give and to serve, to follow our passion of teaching and above all else, to help students make their dreams possible. But, I am really convinced that I was the luckiest of all for getting the chance to work with a wonderful and amazing person, Mr Evren Gunduz. He is simply outstanding!

The biggest compliment I can offer him is that he is truly a very unselfish person, fully dedicated to help the world instead of himself. I am convinced that the ELC Leadership Academy is a real revolution in modern teaching.

Corneille, the very famous French writer, wrote in The Cid, act 2 scene 2, something that I am sure could be dedicated to Evren:

‘True, I am young, but for souls nobly born,valor doesn’t await the passing of years.’

Good luck, Evren for the next ELC Adventure and above all else, Enjoy Life!

~Marc Duplantier, Teacher and parent – LyceeVauban”

• “Dear Mr.Gunduz. Thank you for your great discussion. It was awesome! I had a peace of happiness in my soul after your session! I was delighted. You have so much positive energy!!! I learned a lot of things. I hope that our teachers will follow example of you! I would like to have a teacher like you. The guys from Hopkinton have a luck!!! Thank you Mr.Gunduz.”

• “Evren this was the best thing of my life!!! You really inspired us to be better people and change our attitude and school.  We want you to stay in Luxembourg forever and keep teaching us about leadership and life. I want to be just like you everyday and we all want to come to be students at Hopkinton!  The ELC changed our lives and I will never take off the orange bracelet. Thank you!!!”

• “Hello Evren, What a refreshing experience! Many of us that helped out were motivated by you to help our children as you have helped them. I am amazed by your energy and passion for what you do, and how you have shared it with the children and parents here in Luxembourg! We seriously needed that! My son has realized so many things in these last few days, and I believe that your program has changed the way he sees himself, and his impact on people in his life.”

• “Thanks for the wonderful three days, we have all learned lot of things and especially the respect and trust of our peers. I had a three-day, very moving and informative experience and had an enormous amount of  fun because you create a crazy atmosphere! Thank you for teaching and safe return”

On Thursday December 8th, a formal conference was held for Evren to speak about The Enjoy Life Club and the importance and impact of Leadership Education on students, schools and communities. The two and a half hour conference was extraordinary and attended by over 200 members of the community including parents, teachers, school administrators, students, Luxembourg education officials, and officials from The U.S. Embassy Luxembourg including the U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg, Ambassador Robert A. Mandell. Evren received high praise for his knowledge and passion for leadership education as well as his high energy and well-spoken delivery.  Following the conference, he and the ELC were honored with a champagne reception which he described to us as, “an incredible dream come true and a humble honor!”.

More than anything, the ELC is extremely appreciative of all the above-and-beyond support and recognition Evren and our Leadership Academy is receiving from this most generous and gracious school, community and country of Luxembourg! We certainly love what we do, are passionate about our Leadership Education and are excited for the cultural future of The Collège & Lycée Vauban and the future’s of it’s students!

Evren will be posting his own update along with many more pictures at some point this weekend so check back soon and Enjoy Life!

Evren with Luxembourg Education Officials and the U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg

On behalf of the entire Enjoy Life Club Team, we would like to say congratulations to all the students at Vauban for completing the ELC Leadership Academy and graduating to become our newest members of the Enjoy Life Club!  You were an incredible group of students, full of energy, and open minded to a new way of thinking about yourself and others.  Your control of the english language is exeptional and all 120 of you showed courage in taking this chance, working hard to understand and learn,  and growing as a result!  You can have a great impact on yourselves and your school so live life to the fullest and continue to be positive leaders.  If you inspire and motivate the people around you the way you did to the ELC, your school and community will reach new levels!

To the teachers and parents, “The Dream Team”, all I can say is, AMAZING!  You truly epitomize what it means to be positive leaders and we are so thankful for your sacrifice and dedication to making this leadership education experience possible. If you ever need a holiday, come to The U.S.A. and you will always have an open spot to teach and change lives at the Leadership Academy.

Lastly, thank you to Marc Duplantier and his family for making this entire experience possible!  You are who we want to be more like in our lives. Thank you for dedicating your life to the betterment of the students and for being a positive leader to the ELC. We will follow you anywhere!

Our New ELC Members!

It is official!  The ELC is headed overseas to  fulfill an incredible opportunity and dream to teach our leadership education curriculum to students around the world.  The Collège & Lycée Vauban in Luxembourg is hosting the ELC Leadership Academy for 150 of its high school students.  Evren will leave on December 2nd, 2011 and begin the Academy on December 5th. Along with working to inspire a new class of ELC members, Evren will meet with education officials to discuss U.S. education practices and the ELC’s Leadership Education initiative.  We are excited and very humbled to have been given this chance to work with an enthusiastic and driven group of students from across the pond.  Much more information will be posted as the experience approaches. Enjoy Life! :)

Update: We began a set of photos showing the school in Luxembourg on our flickr account. Photos and videos from the Luxembourg Leadership Academy and Education experience will be posted on our flickr and youtube accounts so check often starting December 2nd when Evren arrives.

Getting to go back and visit DMA at UMass this past week was simply incredible. For the past two years, I had been a bit blinded to the fact that the DMA staff members were not only some of my best friends but some of my most valuable family.  Seeing Heidi in charge brought tears to my eyes because she was SO strong and absolutely amazing at being THE leader.  I just love her to death!  I was given the opportunity to work with the students on Tuesday afternoon and they proved that their bands and this planet are in good hands so long as they are the leaders of now and the future! They were one of the best group of students I have worked with in a long time.  Seriously, I was just in awe of how wonderful they are and I hope that they know that myself and the ELC will be huge fans of theirs during their band season and Beyond!

Of the countless moments that George inspired me, one really stood out this week at DMA: When George and Heidi asked me to be on DMA staff that summer of 2005, I remember saying to them that although it would be a huge honor, I don’t know how I would be able to teach drum majors seeing as how I had never actually BEEN a drum major (I played trumpet all four years at UMass).  George said that being a drum major had very little to do with conducting, whistle commands, posture, the uniform, etc.  Instead, “Being a drum major is ALL about simply being a positive leader and inspiring others to love what they do and become the best versions of themselves. Therefore, Evren, you ARE a drum major. I can teach you all the other stuff in no time!” ~GNP

Well George, thank you once again.  You continue to inspire me and I realize that I am a drum major everyday of my life. My band is every person I come in contact with and it truly is all about being a positive leader with a great attitude.  I am passionate about leadership education and it is really because it was your passion.  At my core, I am a bando more than anything else.  The ELC was, is now, and will forever be, dedicated to you.

With Pride,

-Evren