The founders of JKB, short for the J. Kyle Braid Leadership Foundation, have decided to end the high school leadership program with one last retreat at the JKB Leadership Ranch in Villa Grove, Colo. this summer.

Due to the increasing expenses of the program, Assistant Athletic Director Matthew Purdy said Glenbrook North was planning on pulling out of the program before it accounted for its end.

“It was getting expensive,” said Purdy. “The simple cost to send the students out to the [retreat] was increasing and the amount that the organization was asking us to raise was also increasing.”

Purdy said the leadership program was first established to train student athletes into becoming effective leaders and communicators.

“[The program’s] initial goal was to go for 16 years, which was the lifespan of [the founders’] son,” said Purdy. “But it [did not] work out that way. It went four or five years longer, [so] they decided it was time to stop the program.”

While a few schools have been leaving the program each year, this summer is the last summer all schools, nationally, are able to participate in the JKB program.

Senior Ilana Goldberg has participated in the JKB program since sophomore year. After teachers and coaches nominate student athletes, they go through an interview process with a committee consisting of past student leaders and adults involved in the committee. Ultimately, four students and two alternatives are chosen. Most of these students have gone on the retreats and have been planning activities such as the Spartan Slam.

“I know how much it has benefitted me and the others I went to the ranch with,” said Goldberg. “So it makes me upset that people [will not] have that same opportunity anymore.”