A couple of weeks ago I was preparing my Leadership classes for the day retreat they would be going on. Here are some of the reminders I was giving:
All 3 classes are coming
Don’t forget to wear your blue leadership shirt and bring a lunch or $
No I am not giving you directions to the church we booked. It is a 10 minute walk. Google it! (fun fact – several students went to a different church close by for a bit and wondered where everyone was – then texted friends and figured it out 🙂 )
Then a student asked “What do we do at a retreat?” Oh yeah, they have no idea. You see not a single student currently at Centennial has been on a retreat. The last one was Feb 2020. I had been holding retreats since 2006 at Centennial but this meant nothing to them. So I explained what we would be doing and why. She then said “Okay, sounds fun.” She was right. It was so fun. There were mixers, a spirit group photo scavenger hunt, discussions about what leadership traits matter most, the egg eaglet eagle competition, and the garbage bag fashion show. As the day was finishing up I had one recurring thought.
Awesomeness is back!
One week after the retreat my Gr 11 & 12 classes went to a local elementary school to restart our weekly study program. First visit since March 2020. This week we worked with Gr 3s and Kindergarten. My leaders did great. The best part of the day was listening to them excitedly share stories about how it went as we walked back.
Awesomeness is back!
I hope you are able to resume many awesome things you haven’t been able to do since March 2020. And here is to new traditions we start going forward!
Resources for your program
Keynote Speaker
Sam Demma – great keynote speaker and workshop presenter. We had Sam in today and he was outstanding. He did workshops on goals with my classes and gave a powerful keynote to the whole school. They learned to empty their backpacks, small consistent actions matter, and to be someone’s taco. He is a young Canadian speaker who I highly recommend. You can find out more about Sam and connect with him @ https://samdemma.com/
Conference Opportunities
Horizons 1 day Student Leadership Conference @ Centennial High School Calgary Thursday Oct 27. This conference is run by Centennial and the Canadian Student Leadership Association. We would love to have you join us. If Calgary isn’t close enough there are many other Horizons conferences being run across Canada this year. Click here for more info and to register https://www.studentleadership.ca/horizons
Professional Development / Advisor Training
Alberta and Canadian Student Leadership are co-hosting an Advisors conference Nov 4-5 in Edmonton. I will be leading some of the workshops along with many other outstanding presenters. Everyone is welcome from across Canada and around the world! Click here for more info https://www.studentleadership.ca/recharge
Brent Dickson 