Seventh and eighth graders at Escambia County Middle School are learning about what it means to be successful and applying it to their daily lives.

The students are studying Kent Julian’s book, “Who Wants To Be Normal Anyway?!,” and meet once a month in ECMS teacher Conrad Weber’s class.

Weber, who was trained as a career counselor under Julian, said the program teaches basic principles that apply to both youth and adults.

“The idea in this is to show students their leadership potential,” Weber said.

At each meeting, Weber leads the students through the book and sparks discussions on what it entailed in the book.

Topics from the book include discovering your passions, playing to your strengths, doing self inventories and doing the opposite, to name a few.

Additionally, community business leaders participate as panelists at each meeting and give the students advice on the book’s topics.

During a recent class, students learned about putting a stop to potty mouths, the use of speech and the importance of thinking before speaking.

“The students really look forward to it,” Weber said. “They seem to really enjoy it.”

Weber said the class started meeting in October.