A TEENAGER is in with a chance of taking their first step on the career ladder after a housing association launched its Future Leaders scheme.

Under the innovative project, students from four schools in the Redcar & Cleveland area will be set a series of challenges.

One student will eventually be named a Future Leader and will be awarded an apprenticeship with Coast and Country Housing, starting in 2011.

The first stage of the selection process was held at Laurence Jackson School in Guisborough, with students from there, Redcar Community College, Nunthorpe, and Sacred Heart taking part in a variety of testing activities.

Kelly Rich, of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said: "The scheme is an excellent opportunity for the schools within our borough. It is giving them an opportunity to use the enterprise skills they use every day at school in another way with, of course, the fantastic opportunity of an apprenticeship at the and of it for one lucky student."

The students, aged 14 to 15, will now all become involved in a series of community projects, which they will devise and for which they will be given a budget.

These initiatives will be assessed and afterward the group will be whittled down to 60 young people, who will have the opportunity to attend a weeks outward course in the Lake District.

Emma Grimes, communities manager at Coast & Country, said: "We are hoping to inspire young people and develop their aspirations through this innovative Future Leader scheme.

Alison Blacklott, of Nunthorpe School, added: "This scheme will benefit the students because it will allow them to use their enterprising skills and to contribute to the community and to produce something that is worthwhile."