This has been a week — another week — where I have been able to see the students of our area improve themselves.

I had the pleasure of seeing the last session of this year’s YOUth LEAD class at Robertson Banking Company on Thursday. YOUth LEAD is a program that helps teach leadership abilities, and that doesn’t mean being the boss. It helps to teach how to work with others as a team, how to make decisions and to use patience.

Those are some of the things that the most successful people in the world use well. The traits of a good employer as well as a good employee are confidence, patience, leadership and cooperation. These are traits that can be used in just about every business, from the corporate world to the world of professional sports.

In talking with some of the seniors involved with the program, they sound ready to take what the learned from the program this year and apply it to their collegiate lives and then to their professional careers.

Later that day, I also stumbled upon the district competition of Bible Drills at First Baptist Church. This is a competition in which students learn how to find Bible verses and passages and learn the books of the Bible.

Learning those things doesn’t necessarily make you a better Christian, but it does give a familiarity to the Bible and helps in learning about it. It also encourages children to read the Bible more, so I guess it does make for a better Christian in that aspect. You can’t be a good Christian if you don’t read up on what that means and understand the writings and teachings about Jesus.

Both of these programs help to develop our youth’s education, but neither necessarily teach what is considered to be school subjects. Bible Drills helps to form a child’s religious education and develop his confidence in studying the Bible. YOUth LEAD teaches leadership and other developmental skills, helping our students to be more confident in his endeavors.

Confidence is important in becoming who you become. It helps students learn better and strive to learn more. Self esteem is one of the primary things that defines who a person is, and with programs like this going on in our area, it makes me feel good for these students’ future.

David B. Snow is the managing editor of The Demopolis Times.