Corey Seitz, in a pink striped polo, smiles while speaking with students at the front of a classroom.
Corey Seitz, owner and operator of the Tahlequah Chick-fil-A, leads a Chick-fil-A Leader Academy kickoff conversation with Cookson Hills students.

Most people spend decades figuring out what legacy they want to leave. Last week, a group of Cookson Hills middle schoolers got a head start.

Corey Seitz, owner and operator of the Tahlequah Chick-fil-A, visited campus and challenged students with three questions to help shape them as leaders: Are you glorifying God? Who are you following? What legacy are you leaving behind?

Service, Purpose and Integrity

The questions stirred students to action. One by one, they wrote words on the Leader Academy board describing what they wanted to learn about leadership.

Service showed up more than once.

“Because I like helping people,” one student said.

Another chose it because of a stepdad who “goes out of his way to do so many good things for me and my mom.”

Purpose made the board too. So did integrity. When asked what the word means to her, the student who wrote it said, “It’s doing the right thing even when no one is watching.”

Three middle school students sit at desks with Chick-fil-A lunches, smiling and listening in a colorful classroom.
Cookson Hills middle schoolers listen in as Corey Seitz shares what it takes to be a great leader.

Answers like those don’t come out of nowhere. Leaders are rarely made alone. They are shaped over time by people who keep choosing to show up.

Seitz showed up through Chick-fil-A Leader Academy, a national, challenge-based program that teaches middle and high school students vision, empathy, service, gratitude and integrity.

“Having a business leader like Corey invest time with our students made them feel seen and valued,” said April Graney, a teacher at Cookson Hills. She called his message “foundational concepts for them to consider in their lives now and in the future.”

The future is the point. For children who are at-risk, like the students at Cookson Hills, the right opportunity at the right time can change the direction of a life.

Lunch, Leadership and Little Ripples

Seitz arrived with lunch in hand and a long view of leadership in mind. In a question-and-answer conversation with students, he pointed to the qualities every great leader needs: hard work, kindness, gratitude, diligence and tenacity. Those, he said, are the kind people carry throughout their whole life. That long view shapes his goal for his restaurant too.

“I want to create generational impact in the community,” Seitz said.

To him, that means the people he trains carry what they learned wherever they go next, whether they become nurses, city employees, teachers or something else entirely. He calls it creating “little ripples.”

Alongside those soft skills, Seitz taught the importance of servant leadership in business, how to be a good employee and how to care for those who work for you.

The Power of People Who Show Up

Lessons like these grow when someone invests in them. A 2014 report from MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership found that young adults considered at-risk growing up who had a mentor were more likely to volunteer regularly, 48% compared with 27%, and more than twice as likely to have held a leadership position, 51% compared with 22%.

Graney sees that promise up close every day.

“These students matter, and investing in their futures is worth the time and effort required,” she said.

Every community leader who invests in these students adds to that effort. It is patient work, and results don’t always appear right away, so Seitz’s advice is to focus on faithfulness first.

“It’s very easy to get caught up in the success of numbers or certain percentages,” he said. “The goal is just to be faithful.”

A smiling student in glasses sits at his desk while classmates eat lunch in the background.
Lunch and leadership lessons brought plenty of smiles to the Leader Academy kickoff.

At Cookson Hills, that faithfulness is already making a difference.

Results from the Flourishing Faith Index and Flourishing School Culture surveys paint a picture of the kind of environment where leaders grow. Students learn servant leadership by experiencing it, with the school scoring 87% in caring environments, well above benchmark. They learn to lead from their strengths too. The school scored 87% in individualized instruction, with alumni saying it helped them discover how they learn best and identify their strengths. And they face the future with optimism, scoring 86% in hopefulness, a measure that also reflects their sense of purpose and relationships with trusted adults. 

It shows in graduates too, like Ahbrianna, who graduated from Cookson Hills two years ago. Today she studies at Ozark Christian College, plays collegiate volleyball and keeps developing the gifts for leadership that she discovered on the Cookson Hills campus.

The students who filled that board last week are on the same road. When asked what legacy they are leaving behind, they started with service, purpose and integrity. With teachers, house parents and community leaders choosing to show up, those words will grow into strong families, workplaces led with integrity and thriving communities. One day, these students may be the ones asking the next generation the same three questions.

That is how a legacy is built.

Be one of the leaders who show up for Cookson Hills students. Get involved today!