Fall Leadership Conference

Photo Credit: Photo from Angela Wong

Senior class officers and ASB members pose in the hallway at Fall Leadership Conference 2009

September 30, 2009

Alisha Azevedo, Managing Editor  

Filed under News, Pres

As various Taylor Swift songs blasted over iPod speakers in the Center, girls wearing shirts of yellow, orange, blue, and white danced in a circle after dinner, singing the lyrics in unison. It was a day—and a night—to remember.

The Fall Leadership Conference allowed class officers and homeroom representatives to gather together and learn leadership skills while bonding as cohesive teams. Friday’s activities began with mixers such as “Little Sally Walker,” “Baby Shark,” and “Hey Burrito” to get everyone excited for the conference and energized for the many events to come. The officers then rotated through three different workshops taught by members of ASB. These three workshops included lessons on time management, agendas and note-taking, and one-month plans for various events. Afterwards, the class levels and committees met together to form their own one-month plans to accomplish, from tailgates to neighborhood awareness campaigns.

After much hard work, the leaders met in the chapel for an inspirational talk from Ms. Miller, who shared her experiences with leadership that began at Presentation. As a leader during high school, Ms. Miller was instrumental in the formation of the community involvement club, the structure of student council with five equal ASB officers instead of a hierarchy and changing the design of the Junior Rings. Her many leadership accomplishments in high school alone inspired each officer to action. Her talk was followed by a prayer service led by Junior Alyssa Perez, who compared leadership to the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet in a passage from John.

Then, it was party time. Girls spread out on sleeping bags throughout the hallway, having impromptu dance parties and playing games such as Scattergories and Catchphrase. Some chose to watch School of Rock, while others sat in circles and just talked.

The next morning, after much too little sleep, the girls were awoken by the PA system and formed class level groups once again to discuss their mission statements for the year after some breakfast. After a few more bonding activities, the group bid one another farewell.

Overall, the fall leadership conference was a rewarding and enriching experience. As a student council, each leader is determined to make a difference in the coming year. Though Pres is an incredible school, we still have much to do. And we cannot simply talk about solutions. As Ms. Miller was told by her teacher and former principal Marian Stuckey, “Shut up and do something about it.”

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