CLU director training Tonga teens to be leaders

A California Lutheran University administrator and four other professionals from throughout the country are training high school students in Tonga to be leaders.

Halyna Kornuta, CLU’s director of assessment and educational effectiveness, will participate in MLUF Leadership Academy’s “Train the Students” seminar from Jan. 14 through 18. Mele Lavinia Uata-Fangupo started the program as a doctoral student in order to help youths in her native South Pacific country discover their talents, achieve success and make a difference in their community. The program, funded by Uata-Fangupo, will be provided free to high school students from throughout Tonga.

Kornuta will help teens identify and develop their leadership skills and teach them strategies for success, including effective communication. The Simi Valley resident has extensive experience working with people in need around the globe. She trained educators in Belize to teach science with limited materials, taught students in Germany who were part of Canadian military programs stationed in the area and assisted the YWCA with programs in South Korea.

Kornuta’s husband, Ron Germaine, an education professor at National University in San Diego, will discuss values and the role they play in relationships and goals. A Scripps Clinic doctor, the president of an educational consulting firm and a professor from an online university will complete the training team.

Uata-Fangupo wants to implement the leadership program in every high school in Tonga so she also organized a “Train the Trainers” workshop for educators, administrators and other professionals that was led by higher education and business leaders Jan. 7 through 11.