Saturday, July 12, 2014

Leadership Conference 2014

I have had such a fun week!  I took my Student Body Officers to a Leadership Conference at Dixie State University in St. George.  I specifically chose this particular conference because many of the schools in our area go to it and I wanted to create some collaborative relationships (plus I wanted to see The Little Mermaid).  I am so glad I chose this one!  I think my students had a lot of fun but I also think they had some amazing experiences which will help them be great leaders next year! After we checked into our motel on Tuesday afternoon, we went to the university for a keynote speaker and some roundtable discussions.  Our Student Body President gave a fabulous roundtable about our Multicultural Week last year (which was a great success) and the rest of them got some great ideas from other schools which we are excited to implement.  Then we had a pizza party and spent the rest of the evening at the Washington City Community Center which had a swimming pool, various courts for team sports, a climbing wall, etc.  My students really enjoyed this facility and basically owned the volleyball court!
Wednesday morning we had another keynote speaker and then an amazing activity.  The students were given wooden boards and told to write down everything that was holding them back on them.  Then the presenter had them each break the boards.  Wow!  This was one of the most powerful presentations I have ever seen and most of the students at the conference reacted very emotionally to the experience!
After everyone broke their boards, the presenter turned off the lights and had them all chant "I am a force for good.  I will make a difference.  I will step up!"  I was almost in tears listening to 200 students repeat this.  I always hear people talk about how terrible this generation is but I think the world is in pretty good hands with this group!
After lunch the students had a poster making workshop.  Isn't that Multicultural Week poster awesome (despite the fact that they didn't include a Canadian flag)?  We had a BBQ for dinner and then we all went to the Tuacahn Amphitheatre to see The Little Mermaid.
I really love the shows at Tuacahn and I had never seen the Broadway version of The Little Mermaid before so I was pretty excited!  So were my students!
The show was pretty incredible with lots of special effects.  There was a wall of water at the back of the stage which was amazing!  All of the mermaids glided around the stage on Segways (but we can't figure out how the actors operated them) and various sea creatures "flew" around the stage and into the audience (my favorite was the turtle) during "Under the Sea."  Speaking of which, all of my students giggled with delight as soon as the distinctive opening notes of "Under the Sea" started playing.  Emma Degerstedt (Ariel) and James Royce Edwards (Prince Eric) had beautiful voices and they gave wonderful performances.  Payton Kemp (Flounder) also had an incredible voice and was absolutely adorable.  Heidi Anderson was perfect as Ursula and I loved the sizzling and crackling lights on Flotsam and Jetsam's costumes.  It was a fantastic show and my students raved about it the whole drive back to the motel.  I'm so glad they had the opportunity to see it!
Thursday morning the students were able to participate in service projects around the St. George area.  My students went to the Utah Food Bank.
Again, this was a wonderful experience for the students.  We were involved in sorting the food into various categories and decorating the boxes used to deliver food to people in need.  In the afternoon the students went to various workshops on leadership.
On Thursday night, dinner was on our own so that we could process what had been learned and plan for the upcoming school year.  We were lucky enough to have our assistant principal with us and he took us to dinner at Chili's which was a lot of fun!  I am so glad that he was able to come with us because the students absolutely adore him now!  We were able to plan our Welcome Assembly and Homecoming Week (we have an awesome theme).  Our waitress was so nice!  She gave the students some individual containers of chips and salsa to take with them to snack on later that night!  Then we had Dixie Idol and our Student Body President was one of the three winners!  He has got some moves!  We had a really fun Spirit Bowl (lots of ideas for our assemblies) and a black light dance.  A really late night but lots of fun!
Friday morning we had one final keynote speaker.  I thought all of the speakers were great but this one was my favorite.  I loved it when he said that all you need to do anything you want is 30 seconds of insane courage!  Isn't that great?  Then the conference concluded and my students were sad to leave.
On the way out of town we went on a little hike to Dixie Rock.  The boys were trying to catch lizards...
This picture makes me laugh because I have a similar one of my family in this same spot making silly poses.  I will have to find it...
Last year at our leadership conference I treated the students to some Aggie ice cream (we were at Utah State University).  This year I wanted to do the same for this group so I took them to Swig, which is a crazy popular place in St. George (there is also one in Provo and one in Bountiful) for all kinds of mixed sodas.  I had Sprite with a shot each of mango and raspberry puree!  Unbelievably fabulous!  The students want them to build a Swig near the school!

These Student Body Officers are amazing and I am so excited to work with them!  If this week is any indication, we a going to have a wonderful year!  I'm so glad we got to have such an incredible experience together.  A huge thanks to Dixie State University!

Note:  Hands up if you think the student who never smiles (it is my mission in life to get him to smile) looks like Adam Levine from Maroon 5.  Is it just me?

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