According to a Lakeland High School rising senior selected for an exclusive summer camp on the subject, leadership is crucial in today’s world.

“We need leaders so people can look up to them,” said Logan Simone Reid, among up to 40 rising seniors and juniors from Southside schools attending the LEAD Hampton Roads eXcel summer youth leadership program.

The program takes place July 17-19 at the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce in Norfolk.

“In a way, leadership is like a drive to other people,” Reid said, “and they learn about the leadership qualities in themselves.”

In many respects, Reid already is a leader, having captained her volleyball team, served as secretary of the National Honor Society at Lakeland, and been involved in the Student Council Association and Future Business Leaders of America. But she hopes to extend her leadership training this month.

“With the leadership skills I learn, I feel I should be able to get more active in my school and tutor people that need help,” she said.

Featuring business professionals, entrepreneurs, elected officials and university professors, the intensive program teaches leadership skills for the “real world” from “behind the scenes,” according to a Chamber of Commerce news release.

“The program focuses on creativity, entrepreneurship and the skills required to excel and achieve success in a competitive economic environment.”

Reid says she would like to contribute to the “real word” as a pediatrician, and she has her sights set on pre-med at Duke University.

“Ever since I was little, I would be the first to go get the first aid kit,” she said. “They called me Little Doctor.”

But in another breath, she says she’s “really undecided,” citing Old Dominion and James Madison universities, also, as mom Jeanett Reid coaches her to keep her options open.

“Even though that’s what she wants to do, sometimes when you go to college, you might change your mind,” Jeanett Reid said. “Logan is very good at math.”

The teen plans to take pre-calculus at Paul D. Camp Community College, according to the release, and she is an honor student in her coursework for honors and AP (advanced placement) courses.

Logan was also nominated to the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine and, as a member of Laurel Hill United Methodist Church of Christ, sings in the youth choir, performs with the praise dance team, serves food at the Salvation Army in Suffolk and participated in youth activities at the UCC General Synod 29 in Long Beach, Calif.

“She’s always motivated — that’s one of her best qualities,” Jeanett Reid said. “And she always tries to help people.”