Evren J. Gunduz Ed.M. ♦ ELC Founder ♦ Director ♦ Lead Teacher

Evren currently resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He completed his Master’s degree in 2010 at Harvard University, and  as a student in the  Graduate School of Education he specialized his research  in Student Leadership, Human & Adolescent Development Theory and Group/Team Studies. He received his Bachelor’s degree in 2004 from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in Earth Systems Science and a minor in music.

He is an award winning teacher  at Hopkinton Public Schools having received the Goldin Foundation For Excellence in Education Award in 2009 along with two Hopkinton Hero Awards. While at Harvard, Evren was the recipient of the prestigious Intellectual Contribution/Faculty Tribute Award for his exceptional involvement and contribution to his peers, professors and Harvard University culture.  He has been a celebrated keynote speaker at schools and leadership conferences all around New England including the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Conference, Cape and Islands Student Council Leadership Conference, Hopkinton’s Martin Luther King Day of Giving Back, and the Music for All summer music camp, the country’s largest. Evren has been recognized for his high energy presentations and featured in Michael Katz’s E-Newsletter for his speaking effectiveness.  In addition to his normal school year schedule, Evren is a staff member and special presenter for the nationally acclaimed George N. Parks Drum Major Academy. One of Evren’s most well known and notable endeavors is his creation of the  IGNITE Team, an 8th grade student leadership and mentoring team at Hopkinton Middle School.

An avid athlete, artist and musician, Evren was recently named the Hopkinton Varsity Girls Soccer Head Coach and is  building the Girls Soccer Program to prominence.  In just his second season as head coach, he was awarded league coach of the year honors as his team won the league sportsmanship award and amassed the most season wins in a decade of the program’s history. He is a passionate skier, runner and outdoor enthusiast.  He completed the Boston Marathon in 2006 and spent his summer of 2010 backpacking through Europe! He continues to infuse his life with all his passions such as painting, song writing, playing guitar, trumpet, and soccer. Evren explains, ”My sanctuary is the mountain. I love clipping into my bindings and using gravity to push myself physically. Anyone up for a drive to Sunday River?”

Above all, Evren is a natural and innovative educator who loves teaching his 8^th grade students. As he professes, “The best part of teaching is the inspiration and education I get from them! They rock my world!” He is continually inventing  new ways to engage and inspire his students such as his patented “science songs”.  A pioneer in the world of leadership education for our young generation, Evren’s ground-breaking Leadership Education movement is innovative, fresh, and highly celebrated by students, parents, teachers, caoches and administrators. His most prized creation, the patented ELC Leadership Academy, is a highly effective moral capacity building program for students and combatant against adolescent bullying.  “We can’t just tell students not to bully and show them the negative effects on others if they do.  Motivational speeches, shocking statistics and scare tactics are a temporary fix.  The key to abolishing bullying and increasing students’ leadership and moral capacities  is to fully invest in our students, provide environments where they can have a voice in their leadership, become self-aware and cultivate their own internal empathy.  This is exactly what our Leadership Academy is all about” explains Evren.

Everyone who knows Evren on a personal level says that his greatest attributes are his contagious, positive, energized, supportive attitude and ability to find comfort and happiness in all of life’s experiences.  He laughs and with his signature broad smile says, “Yes, I like finding enjoyment in life, who doesn’t?  But, no one can be happy all the time.  Life provides us  all with as many negatives as positives.  The key to living is to uncover the lessons, potentials for growth, and inspirations from every experience. Go after what you love, let life in and embrace it all. Smile, cry, laugh, love, and everything in between; this is what makes for one heck of a full and positive life!”

Evren says that his parents, both highly successful career educators, and his most influential teacher, George N. Parks, get all the credit for developing his love of education and skill in the classroom. He is dedicated to living his life with the same passion, purpose and peace as his mentor, the late George N. Parks.  Committed to innovating and evolving student leadership education in the 21^st century, the Enjoy Life Club and ELC Leadership Academy is a dynamic, engaging and developmentally appropriate program that is devoted to affecting life-long positive change in all its students. Welcome to the Enjoy Life Club!

ELC Core Teaching Team

Meredith Clark – Principia College

Meredith is a life enthusiast, studying business and graphic design at Principia College. She is a passionate leadership educator. The ELC has taught Meredith that people are the most important thing in life and that attitude is a choice we make for ourselves each and every day. She loves helping her peers become effective communicators, unselfish leaders, and enabling them to positively impact our world. Her favorite part of working with the ELC is learning from the incredible students she meets. Meredith’s life goal is to never stop giving, growing, and to encourage others to do the same!

Ian Brohm – Saint Anslem College Student

Ian is currently a sophomore attending Saint Anselm College and majoring in Business. He hopes to see the ELC expand into a well recognized leadership academy that will inspire kids of all ages to become positive leaders and adopt a positive outlook on life.

Emily Crain – UMASS Amherst, 2014

Emily’s experiences through the Enjoy Life Club have inspired her to pursue paths in teaching and psychology. She feels that learning the philosophy promoted by ELC allows one to become a more well-rounded individual and the best version of oneself possible; which in turn positively impacts one’s relationships and interactions with the world.

Shaye Ellis - University of Richmond Student, 2014

Shaye is pursuing a degree in Leadership Studies at UR’s Jepson School as a result of her founding role in the Enjoy Life Club. She believes that leading by example is a crucial part of a broader leadership philosophy. You don’t need an official position to act as a leader, and she hopes to inspire all members of the Enjoy Life Club to lead with enthusiasm and passion.

Cameron Linares – Fordham University, 2014

Cameron Linares is a student at the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University and strives to experience all that life has to offer. He believes that positive leadership is best promoted by people who know themselves and are willing to take risks to expand their horizons in life. Through ELC he hopes to promote a positive, energetic, and enthusiastic lifestyle to help create positive student leaders in today’s society.

Annelyse Reinertson – Massacusetts College of Art and Design Student

Annelyse’s strength is creative thinking, which she exercises through painting, drawing, writing, and problem-solving. She enjoys applying her creativity to ELC, while simultaneously encouraging others to put their all into this ever-growing lifestyle of optimism. Annelyse feels that ELC has made her a better person thus far, and is eager to see where this lifestyle will take both her and the rest of the organization in years to come.

Ashley Gorham – Hopkinton High School Student

Ashley is eager to see how the ELC lifestyle can be applied on a larger scale. While leading by example and other lessons have had a profound impact on Ashley, she feels that overall an optimistic point of view is the key to success. She hopes to see positive leadership have a global impact starting with simply smiling and giving too many high fives!

Mitchell Saeger – Tufts University, 2015

Mitch Saeger is a student at Tufts University School of Engineering and harbors a passion for solving problems to benefit those in the world around him. He believes that leaders are best defined by their attitudes, as one’s attitude dictates their ability to be an effective leader, find perspective, solve problems, and positively influence those around him or her. Through the ELC, he hopes to impart a positive and enthusiastic commitment to serving others to the next generation of leaders.

Caitlin Rowles – New York University, 2015

Caitlin Rowles is a student at New York University whose active involvement in leadership, volunteerism, and the ELC has sparked her passion to make a positive global impact. The Enjoy Life Club has strengthened Caitlin’s belief that nothing is more powerful than a positive attitude, and that an individual can make an enormous impact. Caitlin hopes to inspire others to live their lives with positivity.