John Lazarich Leadership Liaison

Since the founding of Bodine High School for International Affairs in 1981, the Council has provided a regularly scheduled, on-site liaison who works closely with Bodine students and faculty to augment the school’s international curriculum by providing a variety of global affairs programming, in-class speakers, special assemblies, international student exchange programs and a diverse array of academic field trips and study abroad excursions. In March 2018, the John Lazarich Foundation generously pledged to sustain the liaison position. The World Affairs Council is honored that the Liaison position at Bodine, with the support of the John Lazarich Foundation, will henceforth be named the John Lazarich Leadership Liaison.

Funding for this position directly impacts Bodine students who have the potential to become globally competent change-makers. The liaison position is essential to the leadership cultivation activities that the Council has sponsored over the years for thousands of area students, thus offering Bodine’s students unparalleled opportunities for access to political, business, academic and media leaders of our time. The primary strategic goal of Council programming at Bodine High School is to promote global competency skills by helping traditionally underserved high school students acquire the core knowledge, skills and disposition required to understand and act creatively on issues of local and global significance. The Council’s support for Bodine serves as a mentoring platform to prepare its students to assume student leadership roles in the Council’s two region-wide high school simulations, the fall International Student Summit and the spring Global Economic Forum. In the summer months, Bodine students also actively participate in the Council’s Summer Global Leadership Program.