About Student Leadership Services
With more than a century of collective experience, our team is dedicated to the health, safety, and empowerment of young people.
Our Mission
Student Leadership Services, Inc. (SLS), is a nationally certified, Michigan-based, 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to ensuring our youth remain safe from drugs, alcohol, and peer pressure and thrive physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. SLS accomplishes its goals through innovative and evidence-based prevention programming within student-led, adult-supported school chapters while also leveraging technology and collaboration with community partners to evolve and grow continually.
Our Vision
Every youth can lead toward positive change in peers’ thoughts and behaviors.
Awards & Recognition
Our research-driven strategies and validated outcomes have earned national recognition from leading prevention and public-health bodies.
- 2016 NREPP Certification — National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices
- 2014 National Exemplary Award for Innovative Programs, Practices and Policies — NASADAD
- 2013 Service to Science Award for Building Evaluation Capacity — Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- 2011 Service to Science Award — Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- 2011 Governor’s Traffic Safety Award for Long-term Achievement
Meet our people
Staff
Ann Colwell Johnson
Program Specialist
Ann joined the SLS team in October 2024. She taught Language Arts and Science to 6th-8th graders at Mason Middle School in Waterford for 23 years. She has a Master's degree in Science Education from Walden University.
Dawn Flood, LMSW, CPC-R
Executive Director/CEO
Dawn joined the SLS team in 2004 and has been involved in peer education and youth-led prevention programming since 1998. After 18 years with SLS and serving as Prevention Specialist and Program Director, Dawn accepted the Executive Director position in 2022. Dawn works directly with chapter advisors and students throughout Michigan, combining her school social work background with a cognitive behavioral approach to prevention.
Marcia Partin
Prevention Specialist
Marcia joined the SLS team in 2021. She previously was a Prevention Manager developing in-school and afterschool prevention programming and summer camps in Detroit. Marcia uses her experience to understand youth struggles and to see the potential in every young person to do great things.
Pamela Voss-Page, M. Ed.
Research Director
Pamela Voss-Page has served SLS since 1984 and was a founding member of the SLS Board of Directors. Over the years, Pam held various roles in the organization and became the Executive Director in 1994. As a result of her dedication, Michigan led the nation in effective youth-led health and safety programming. Her ongoing commitment to prevention research and evidence-based practice continues with annual evaluation and the validation study that led to national recognition.
Board of Directors
Dianne Bostic Robinson, LMSW
Secretary/Strategic Planning Chair
Dianne is a Licensed Master of Social Work and retired non-profit executive who joined the SLS board in 1997. She has directed nonprofit agencies and held executive level positions across child welfare, foster care, residential treatment, and substance abuse organizations.
Michael Beard
Board Member
Mike joined the SLS board in 2025 and brings 26 years of diverse experience in education. He serves as Director of Educational Outreach and Director of Innovation and Strategic Initiatives at Hudson Area Schools in Hudson, MI.
Toni Lauretano
Vice President
Toni is a Development and Fundraising professional, currently an Assistant Director of Development in the Michigan Medicine Office of Development at the University of Michigan. She was a member of the Chelsea High School Students Leading Students Chapter all four years of high school and joined the SLS Board of Directors in 2019 as the Fund Development Chair.
Ward Bartlett
Board President
Ward Bartlett spent his career as a social and physical sciences teacher in Warren Consolidated Schools. He retired in 2024 after thirty years at Mott and Cousino High Schools. He was an advisor for his schools' SLS chapters for 28 years and continues to visit schools and provide advisor trainings across Michigan. He has been a member of the SLS Board since 1997.
Zane Sami Hatahet
Media Spokesperson
Zane joined the Board of SLS in 2016. He works as an Assistant General Counsel for RealTruck in Ann Arbor, MI, after earning his Juris Doctor and undergraduate degrees from the University of Michigan. The Governor of Michigan appointed Zane to serve as a State Commissioner on the Commission on Middle Eastern American Affairs.
Our emerging leaders
SLS Student Advisory Board
Established in 1986, we train each passionate group of emerging leaders to lead and teach their peers and younger students. They work with our team and member schools to promote youth involvement, networking, and stakeholder partnerships. The Student Advisory Board (SAB) develops and leads conferences, assemblies and workshops. These students are dedicated to creating healthy, safe and inclusive schools and communities across Michigan and we are proud to help them do this important work!
Kaley Long
Taylor High School · Junior · 2nd year member
Mackenzie Burns
Clarenceville High School · Junior · 1st year member
Marvin Mills
Marion Jr/Sr High School · Senior · 4th year member
Myah Randolph
Brighton High School · Senior · 3rd year member
Xavier Boggess
Madison Academy High School · Senior · 1st year member
Want to work with us?
Start a chapter, book a workshop, or support student-led prevention with a tax-deductible donation.