Archbishop Ryan Launches Chick-fil-A Leader Academy

PHILADELPHIA PA — Archbishop Ryan High School’s first Chick-fil-A Leadership Academy recently launched accepting 18 students who committed to becoming future leaders. Chick-fil-A Whitman Square and Bob Fanelli, its owner and operator, are sponsoring the program which will be moderated by the restaurant’s field team and faculty from the school.

The leadership program has one shared mission: impact through action. The program initially launched in 2013 with three Atlanta schools and has surpassed 900 schools in 41 states as of 2021, touching over 100,000 students.

“Impacting our community is one of our top priorities at Chick-fil-A,” Fanelli said, “and partnering with our local High Schools and Principal McFadden has allowed us to do this in an exciting, new way. We believe teaching and sharing valuable life skills is essential to help students navigate a changing world as they prepare for college and work life.”

Students will participate in monthly leader labs to learn different leadership principles and start working toward a capstone project, which will be a community or school impact project.

“This program provides leadership curriculum and opportunity to develop student leaders in the school and community through service and action,” AR Principal Joe McFadden stated.

Two students in the club are also Chick-fil-A Team Members.

In addition to leader labs, the students planned an executed a food drive as part of their service project.