Students learn about leadership from North Las Vegas mayor
The key to developing a strong team is surrounding yourself with honest people, North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee told students Thursday at Somerset Academy. Lee, who spoke to fifth- through eighth-grade students about leadership during a Zoom assembly, talked about how his time as an assemblyman and state senator led him to leading the city.
“I didn’t become mayor overnight,” he said.
Lawrence Brown Jr., who teaches a leadership class at the North Las Vegas school, invited Lee to speak. The mayor addressed about 300 students, parents and teachers on Zoom.
At least four students, however, got to meet the mayor in person.
Nevaeh Johnson, 12, excitedly wiggled in her seat before it came time for her to speak at the assembly. The seventh-grader praised her teachers for always reminding students “there is more than one way to solve a problem.”
Johnson, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the Somerset Academy logo, said
Lee’s talk was inspiring.
“I learned that a leader is not scared to walk alone and not scared to do something (right), even if it means everybody hating them or not liking them,” she said.
Somerset Academy, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school, has been open for hybrid learning since September. Brown wanted to put together a special event for students struggling with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Some of them feel like they are living in a box right now,” he said.
Lee told the students that the pandemic will eventually pass and they have the potential to become mayor someday, too.
“When nobody else will lead, you’ve got to lead,” Lee said, pointing toward the students on the computer screen.