S2 E5 - We’ve Forgotten This with Corey Stillwell

In this episode of Leadership Unscripted, Dr. Greg Steely sits down with Corey Stillwell, Coordinator of Student Leadership for Gwinnett County Public Schools, one of the largest and most diverse school districts in the country. Corey leads the nationally recognized Gwinnett Student Leadership Team and supports a districtwide Peer Leadership program shaping student leaders from elementary through high school.

Their conversation explores how career readiness, student agency, and real-world learning can become core pillars of the K–12 experience. Corey shares how CTE pathways, leadership development, and community partnerships help students discover purpose, build confidence, and take ownership of their future, not just prepare for a test.

At a time when schools are being asked to better connect learning to life, this episode offers a practical and hopeful look at what’s possible when leadership development starts early and includes every student.

Leadership Unscripted is brought to you by Growing Leaders a program of the Maxwell Leadership Foundation. Learn more about Growing Leaders at Growingleaders.com and Maxwell Leadership Foundation by Visiting Maxwellleadership.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Today we're talking about student leadership and the power of giving students a voice with Corey Stilwell. Coordinator of student leadership for Gwinnett County Public Schools, Corey leads the nationally recognized Gwinnett Student Leadership Team and supports a district-wide peer leadership program that's developing confident, character-driven leaders from elementary through high school. His work is an absolute masterclass in what happens when schools make leadership development a core part of their student experience. Corey Stilwell, my man, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Absolutely, man. We're so excited to have you. You and I were talking a little bit beforehand and just the partnership that we've had with you over the over these years and just watching you as a leader lead at the level you do. This is going to be really, really good for our listeners, especially of those that are trying to figure out how to navigate student leadership within the context of the school. So let me ask you this question. Let's start really kind of big picture. Why is student leadership such a critical part of the Gwinnett County public school system experience?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

So I think that it's something that we firmly believe in because we believe that every student has the capacity to be a leader. So, you know, I think uh one of John Maxwell's famous quotes is that um leadership is influence. And we believe that all of our students have the capacity for influence. Um and so no matter what where life takes them, so what career path, what you know, journey they go down, we want them to be the leader in every field, in every industry. Um, and so that starts with school and so embedding leadership and character development in schools. So that's kind of like a foundational belief that I think that we have.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

That's awesome. Hey, Corey, uh, because I don't know this story about you, um, and I don't know how many of quarries there are in school systems around the nation. Talk a little bit about how you landed where you've you've landed with Gwinnett County. Um, and uh there may be details you don't want to share about that, but what but whatever it is, how how did you get where you're at and how can that inspire other districts and counties or states to see the importance of a leader like you. Now, Gwinnette County will say you can have Corey. You cannot have Corey, but you can replicate Corey and the importance of that. Talk about your journey to get here and why and why Gwinnett County has embraced uh this position as important.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

So I think um before talking about me, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about um GSLT, um the Gwynette Student Leadership Team that you mentioned earlier. Um we're now in the 30th year of that program. Um and that program really birthed out of our um Leadership Gwinnett program with the Chamber of Commerce. Um, so our previous director of GSLT, she was uh in that program. She met a colleague from Georgia Power and they said, Hey, we need something like this for students. And so then that kind of birthed that program. Um, for me, and my journey into this seat um is an unusual journey because my degree is in social work. So my bachelor's is in social work. I received my bachelor's from UGA, and then I went to NYU with kind of my sights set on being a therapist. Um, but through my internship um at NYU, uh I worked at a high school and I loved being in the high school setting. So when I moved back to Georgia, I was lucky that Metacreek High School had a school social worker opening. I applied, I was blessed to get that opportunity. Um, but I was brought in through a grant. Um and kind of what I was told is that, you know, I was given some strategic advice from a colleague, and they said, you know, hey, if you want to stick around, you need to become so valuable that they can't lose you. And so I started taking on extra responsibilities. Um, and one of those just happened to be student counsel. And when I met with the kids, I said, Hey, you know, like what do we do? Like, what do y'all do? And they were like, we do homecoming. And I said, okay, that's great. And then after that, like, what's the next thing? And they were like, oh no, that's it. And I said, Oh no, that that's what we used to do. That's no longer what we do. Um, and so then I just got really strategic um with the kiddos about targeting areas of improvement that they wanted to make. Um, so we really focused on school spirit to begin with. Um, and that's what I like to say is the first domino that started setting up a culture shift and change at Metacree High School, where kids started going to games, then we started winning games, then we won Soccer State Championship, which is the first state championship Metacree could ever won. Then after that, we won Basketball State Championship. Football started going to playoffs for the first time in decades. Um, so there was a real shift in you, it was a palpable feeling that you could feel in that school. Um, and the principal at the time at that time started really investing in me and my work um and really believed in it. Um, and I will say that um that's an opportunity that maybe most principals wouldn't see or wouldn't invest in. Um, and so really kind of repurposed me as a school social worker to be really kind of working with the community more and really bridging the gap between school culture, uh staff, and like kind of the community. Um, and so made those shifts and then I moved into being an assistant principal um for almost like the last year, so during COVID. So during COVID time, I became an assistant principal. Um I stayed connected with student leadership because I'm the assistant uh executive director for the Georgia Association of Student Councils. So I was still in the student leadership world. Um, but then this position opened up because my predecessor was retiring. Um and so then they were kind of restructuring this role to be support GSLT, but also to support our peer leadership program, um, which is a high school course, a middle school course or club or an elementary club. Um, and so when I saw that opportunity, that was really my passion when I was at Meadow Creek. And so I jumped all over this opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

That's incredible that that I mean, if you think about that, right? Think about that journey, and it really was all about you becoming more confident in your leadership, right? Seeing seeing something. John always talks about great leaders are leaders who see more and before others, right? You're you're a testimony of a leader who saw more, not even not in just the opportunity, but you saw more in students. You said that at the very beginning. And then you saw before, because nobody had really thought through how to build this out, and you've you've kind of come in and done that. And and now I'm sure there are countless. Well, we know we know most of the students at the at the event we were just at at Gwynette Arena, were your were your people, we're your students, and uh, and they're they're hungry for leadership, and so you've set an incredible foundation. So your story is is great. If you're in a county or a state, you need to go get you a Corey Stillwheel, is what you need to do. That's how important this is.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

It is so important. Um, you know, I I think it, you know, there's so many reasons why it's important, right? So it's important for the development of children, it's the important for the development of our future of you know, America. Um, but I also think it's important from a principal district leader lens as well, especially in terms when you think of school improvement. Um, because when you shift culture and you have a culture that people want to be a part of, okay, so then we're talking about that's recruitment um and retention strategies, right? Like that's how you're gonna keep people in your building and how you're gonna get people to want to come be a part of the special thing that you're creating in your building. Um, so so I see it kind of as twofold, right? And then also it just strategically makes sense, they outnumber us. So do the kids far outnumber all of the adult staff in the building. So they're your boots in the ground, and they are hungry and um excited about being a part of something and being a part of change. You know, I think that, you know, when I came in at Meadow Creek, like I had kids who were hungry, the desire was there, they wanted it, they needed somebody to hold them accountable, and then they needed somebody to help remove barriers for them. Um, and that's what I felt like my job was was to find a way to say yes to them and to find a way to move the needle forward, but also do it in a strategic way where, you know, sometimes like they had 50,000 ideas and things that they wanted to do. And I said, we're gonna focus on one and we're gonna do it really well. We're gonna be exceptional in this one thing. And then next year we're gonna maintain and add. And so we kept building that way. Um, and so, you know, my first year, my first student council meeting, I have pictures of this that I love to show. But like at the first meeting, we had maybe 40 kids at the student council meeting, and I thought we were doing great. I was like, oh, like this room's really full, like this is awesome. Three years later, maybe four years later, um, we had to meet. Our first meeting had to be in the gym because we had over 400 students um coming to the student council meeting. Um, so much so that we had to bump basketball practice back because we needed, we commanded and needed the space um, because we had students that wanted the best in their school and their community.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

When you you know that you're a part of something that is huge when you're making a sports coach and a team move something because those people are the most OCD controlling people. And we love you, coaches. We love you. But you are, you know who you are. And the fact that they well, here's a test the testimony of the school, too, right? They got it. Yeah, they got what you were doing.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

And the coaches got it, knew that those kids were gonna be who showed up for their games and cheered them on and supported them, and they and they need that support. I mean, it is, you know, we have the saying about the 12th man for a reason, right? Like there it it plays an impact in the game.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

So and that's students leading up. Absolutely. You know, that that that's one thing that I love about what you guys do is you talk to students about 360-degree leadership, which is you know, one of John's books. 360-degree leadership, and what young people sometimes don't realize is it's it's it's really easy to lead down, a little more difficult to lead across, right? Very, very difficult to lead up. And sometimes a student feels um ill-equipped to lead up, and you're giving them the opportunity to do that. That's a great example um of that. Hey, let's you said something earlier, and you've mentioned student counsel a couple of times, and and that what that rem makes me think about is when I was in high school, leadership in high school was really, when it when I was in high school, only associated with student counsel, right? I mean, you that that's what teachers thought. If you're a leader, if you're on student council or you're a class president, or you're the captain of the team, you're a leader, everybody else is not really there. Talk about how what you what you're doing is changing, kind of changing that uh, you know, that that focus to being more inclusive of everybody being a leader.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Yeah, so I love this question. Um, you know, I think what we're doing is that we're expanding kind of the traditional definition of what a leader is um and what a leader looks like. Um, and so I think that we have created avenues for um diverse leaders to engage in. So, for example, student council, I didn't have any requirements to be a member of the student council because just like in society, um everybody has a voice. Everybody gets a vote, everybody gets a voice. And so it's the same, I felt like I've felt very strongly that that's how um it should be on the school campus as well. But our student council, and in my personal opinion, the foundation of student council is really school culture. Whereas our peer leadership program in Gwyneth um is really about being kind of a peer mentor, um a uh an ambassador. So, you know, think about like I think about peer leaders as um onboarding new students, welcoming people into their building, um, tutoring, constant mentorship, um, sometimes conflict uh mediation with the supervision of a school counselor. Um, but then they also serve um our staff um interns as student aides, or they serve the elementary schools, then they go and they uh our teacher aides at the elementary. Um then we have GSLT, which is kind of a train the trainer model, honestly. So they receive student leadership training, and then they are tasked with taking that back to the school and re-delivering to their school teams, which is a broader range of students, um, to kind of have a triple trickle-down effect. Um, but particularly with peer leadership, that door is open for any walk of life, any students. Um, there are not a whole lot of parameters except for good character. Um, so that is really kind of where we are trying to diversify um what leadership looks like and ensuring that students have the access and opportunity um for those leadership opportunities.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

That's really good. It's the it's such it it's just strong. Um we live in an age now where so many students need to feel the responsibility and the weight of leadership, right? Not not in an oppressive way, not in a a uh even in a mental health uh age that we live in, not not to create anxiety of that responsibility, but to understand that you have a weight of responsibility to everybody that you come across. And the fact that that you guys are doing such a good job of navigating them through that, you know, Tim Elmore uh always writes about the guide on the side that you're that you guys are a guide on the side for them. You're not leading for them and you're not pushing them in the leadership, but you're gonna guide them through that responsibility. I think it's just powerful.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

And you know, and to me, I almost feel like leadership is empowerment, right? So it's it's it's helping students feel empowered to have some sort of self-leadership in their life and the choices that they make and the decisions that they make in order to help, you know, guide them to move forward. Um, but I think that, you know, it is also there's some work to be done um in the in the realm of redefining leadership and seeing it not as, you know, I'm the sage on the stage and I'm, you know, wagging my fiender, I'm bossing you around, I'm telling you what to do, uh, or I'm a politician or what have you, like the traditional sense of the term leader, you know, redefining kind of what leadership looks like and particularly self-leadership.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

So good. Uh you uh you mentioned uh peer leadership. Uh tell us a little bit about your peer leadership conferences. Tell talk a little bit about the impact they have. Um, you know, what what's what's the motive behind them, what the why of these? I think they're really, really cool.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Yes. So peer leadership, um, we have a high school conference. So all the high school peer leaders come together. Um, they have uh motivational keynote speakers, they have workshops, um, and then they have time to network with one another as well in order to really have that time of professional development, um, and then to have that time that time for professional development from nationally recognized um facilitators, um, which is a very special opportunity. Um, so we have at the high school level, the middle school level, and even the elementary level. And I'll I'll tell a funny story. I my first year I did the elementary conference. Um, we had 900 fourth and fifth graders come to this conference. And if you work in the elementary space, that's a lot of kids. That's a lot of kids with a lot of voices.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Um, and so I was like, okay, year two, we're going to two days. We're split it up, we'll have like 450, 450, it'll be more manageable. Um, well, we had more schools kind of buy in um and hear about the conferences. And so we went to two days of 900. Um, so then this upcoming year we're gonna go to three days and we'll we'll see what the neighbor numbers shake out. But between elementary, middle, and high, we had over 3,000 students um attend our our peer leadership uh conference programming. Um, but I think it's really important for them to have time for that professional learning from national leaders, but also it's important for them to have time to collaborate with others from other communities within their same county and their same district, um, because we are a huge district and a huge county. And so, you know, there are going to be similar issues that they can talk about, but then there's also gonna be differences. Um, and then that's an opportunity for perspective taking um and to really kind of um I think bridge the gap sometimes from what sports create, right? Like sometimes sports create division, you know, us versus you, whereas like this is really a time for us to come together as a county, as a district, um, and so really collaborate for growth and um progress.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

That's so good. How many total students in Gwinnett County?

SPEAKER_00 18:58

We have a hundred roughly 182,000 children. And then we have 141 schools, I believe, if I'm correct.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Right. Three three thousand of of uh that number is is a really good number of leaders, right? I mean, that's a of elementary school, I mean of total kids, but when you're talking about bringing it close to a thousand elementary, fourth and fifth graders, by the way, how loud is that um is that event? It's high energy.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Uh it is high energy, and I leave the conference sleeping very well.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Oh my gosh, I can imagine. Oh man, fourth and fifth graders. God bless their little souls, right? But I'm so glad y'all are doing that. Hey, a couple more questions as we as we wrap up here. This has been great too, Corey. Thank you so much for this. Um as someone who works very closely at the intersection of leadership and career development, okay. What do you think that our schools are getting right in that? And what do you where do you think we still have some room to grow?

SPEAKER_00 20:03

So I'll start with the room for growth. Um I I think the room for growth is investing more in leadership and investing more in these opportunities. Um, because I think unfortunately, sometimes we still have the spleen that this is extra. You know, so you know, you hear talk about, you know, four core, and four core is important. I'm not saying that math, science, language arts, social studies that that's not important. I'm not saying that. Um, but I am saying that we do have room to really invest in character development and leadership development. Um, and these things make students marketable in the job market. Um, because this is what I think is the gap difference maker for people for for the next stage of their life. Because especially if we're preparing students for the next stage, um, this work is that work. Um, I think you you're starting to see, I'm starting to read more articles, you know, that talk about, you know, when people are interviewing for jobs, you know, they're like they're lacking soft skills. But you know, to me, they're not soft skills, they're essential skills. You have to have them, you have to be able to talk to people, you have to be able to communicate effectively, you have to be able to problem solve, you have to be able to have grit because life requires those things. Um, the workforce requires those things. So I think that we have opportunity to invest, you know. I think from my lens, especially, you know, earlier talked about there's not many me around the country. I can tell you that in the West Coast, um, there are roles that are similar that it's way more common in the West Coast. Um, there is a me in um in Maryland, um in Montgomery County, um, and she and her office is doing fantastic work. Um, but The south, the southeast, the northeast, there's not many of these roles and the investment in this role. But this I think that in time we will see major dividends from investing in this work. Um, so that's the area for growth. Things that I think that we're that particularly Gwynette and what we are getting right is that we are investing in this work. Um, we are investing in these resources. Um, and I, you know, I'll tell a quick example of where I saw um payoff. And that's with our um one of our schools. Um they took their training, they re-delivered it for um their student groups, like what they normally do, but then they decided to take it a step further. And so one of my GSLT teams at a local school re-delivered for their entire staff. And I got the opportunity to see them deliver this training. And so their training was kind of around um identifying your leadership style. Um, but then they also had some like perspective taking as well of like how you show up. And through conversations that teachers were having that students were facilitating, I saw teachers cry. I saw them get emotional, I saw people leave and say that was the best training that we've been to all year. And so um, I think that is super powerful. Um, and that is some work that I've kind of taken that nugget and really shared that a lot with my teams that I would like to see more of that. Because, you know, I I think with our school staff, you know, they respect and they enjoy professional learning, but it is like a renewed sense of energy when you have a student coming in and kind of taking charge and leading that. There's you you have learning occurring, but then you also have this sense of like hope of what the future is gonna look like.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Man, that's so good. Um, so good. Hope, right? We we just talked to um Superintendent Ellen Weaver of South Carolina, and her one of her big initiatives is is hope, giving students hope. And I'm not sure it's something that I needed as a kid when I was growing up, or at least I didn't, it wasn't as as prevalent as a need because there were so many less distractions, obviously, uh when we were growing up. But uh, but now there's so much hope, which is a great thing that we're able to help provide it. It's a sadness that it's needed. Right. It it in the bulk that it's needed. Um, last question. Talk a little bit about some advice. So there somebody's listening to this, they're in education, they're gonna be inspired by you and what you've done and and your rise to to create and be a part of where you guys are. Talk to someone, and I want you to talk to Corey at Meadow Creek, right? So let's not talk to somebody that's at at the higher level, let's talk to somebody that's a teacher, Meadow Creek, where you started, and they're like, Man, I I we need this. I need to start this in this in our school. Get give one or two things a start right here.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

I think it starts with a caring adult. So an adult that genuinely cares about students um and wants to create um a family-like atmosphere on their school campus um that has authentic relationships with students. Um relationships are so important. Um, and the only reason MetterCree, the only reason we were successful is not because of me. Um it is because of me and the students, like it was us as a collective. But had I had they not taken the reins and ran with it, nothing would have happened. Um, but also I was pulling the lever of accountability, right? Like, hey, we are going to succeed and we're gonna start changing some things. So I really think building relationships with the students, but also accountability. And what accountability looked like to me is like when students weren't meeting the mark, I replaced them. So I know that sounds harsh, but if you are not doing your job, then you gotta be let go. Um, but I created other opportunities for them. So I had one student who I said, hey, I don't think this is working out, you're not showing up, you're not doing the things that I that we that the expectation requires. However, so you can leave or we're gonna find a different role for you. What would you like to do that is better fit for you? And he decided to stay and he thrived. Um, and so I think he learned a lot through that. But then other students did too about like, oh, the accountability is way up here. So for me, it's about building relationships coupled with high accountability. I think that that's where you gotta start. Um, but if you think that any person can do this, it can't be. It just cannot. Um, it has to be somebody who really cares about the kids at the core. Um, and then the rest that are just X's and O's and you can figure out.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

That's really good, man. Hopefully, people are taking that to heart. I mean, you can start, right? Just start. Just like you said, be a caring adult. Yes. Just care enough to start. All right, a couple of rapid fire questions, all right? These you don't you don't even know what's coming, man. You got to be on your toes. All right, I'm ready and be ready. Now, listen, there's softballs. Okay, there's softballs. You're an education guy. I'm not gonna make you overthink here. All right. So, all right, so let me ask you you have uh you have an hour, and uh you're granted you can spend that hour with any leader, dead or alive. You get an hour with them. Who would it be and why?

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Oh man, that is tough. Um, actually, I'm probably gonna choose Simon Sinek, actually. Um I a lot of his core principles and belief um just really speak to me. Um, especially, you know, you talk about his book Leaders Eat Last. Um, you know, I and some of it may be coupled with like kind of like my southern like roots and how I grew up. Um, but uh you know, I think I would really like to pick his brain about culture and leadership, but I think that would be somebody I would like to that's really good.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Love him, man. He's got a way with a word, dude. It's amazing. Yeah. My gosh. Um, all right. Uh you're a UGA guy. Go Docs. Right? I mean, yep. Uh sports guy with UGA or yeah. Okay. Football team. All right. To to win the national championship, UGA must have this happen. And you can't say go undefeated.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

Um, I think they have to have brotherhood. Um, so I mean, I think to me, it goes back to, you know, I have this debate all the time uh with uh there's a colleague at work that we talk about, you know, what's more important, talent or culture? Um, and so I I'm somebody that uh of the belief that culture is paramount, that you can have some really talented players, but if you don't have a culture, you're gonna crumble and you're not gonna win the national championship. Um, so to me, I think it starts with culture and standards.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

I love it. Spoken like a true leader, man. That's incredible. Thank you. Uh Andrew McPeat, our good friend Andrew, told me you Corey's gonna blow you away. He was 1,000% correct on that. I appreciate that. Yeah, I want to thank you for first of all, uh being on the being on the podcast, taking the time out to be a part of this. It means a lot to me and to our team. Uh secondly, we we appreciate your support, your leadership, your partnership with with what we're doing uh for students, and just allowing us, man, to just be a part and be on be on the stage with you in front of your team and uh and locking arms with you. And um, we couldn't ask for a better partner. Well, I I couldn't either.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

I appreciate the partnership so much.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

Yeah, um, we do too, buddy. So, hey, thank you. Have a have an incredible week, man. Go go to Gwinnett County and everybody, you've heard from the man, Corey Stilwell, today. It's time to get out of the seat and let's go make these students believe their leaders. Thank you, buddy. Appreciate your time. Thank you.