Student Leadership Summit

The first District Student Leadership Summit was held on Tuesday, April 26th at the DESC.

“It was wonderful to gather together to engage with student leaders and explore topics such as learning about school culture, setting goals, examining current initiatives, and making plans for future opportunities to improve our schools through student leadership,” comments one of the teacher sponsors, Sandra Major, who is the vice-principal at Carlin Elementary Middle School.

Nine schools SD83 schools (A.L. Fortune, Salmon Arm Secondary, Jackson, Shuswap Middle School, Eagle River Secondary, Carlin Elementary Middle, Falkland, Pleasant Valley Secondary and Len Wood Middle) participated and sent along student representatives and a sponsor teacher.

Participants made the following comments as part of their reflections about the day:

“I feel really inspired because I met new people and I realized what is happening within other schools in our district.”

“I learned that students truly are intimately and profoundly aware and concerned with the same issues as adults!”

“We take away the knowledge of what our school needs to improve on and what we should continue doing from today onward hoping that someone in the next generation will continue it forward.”

“Today I learned that it can be incredibly important to meet with other schools to communicate and inspire our district.”

The next Student Leadership Summit will be on May 26 and the sponsor teachers are looking forward to re-engaging with the young leaders and continue to promote connections and positive initiatives in our district.

The district student leadership team model was proposed to the Board back in December and was proposed by a group of vice-principals and teachers including Deanna Brennan, Dallas Mould, Sandra Major, and Chris Matheson.

They proposed to the Board the leadership group would be comprised of a diverse group of three to four students and a staff member from each middle and high school. The student leaders are looking at local needs and tasks and determine what should be tackled. They explained one of the reasons for the small numbers to start is in the hope that they will be able to get everyone together for three summits, with the first two focussing on team building and learning, and the the final one being a time to reflect and celebrate the progress made. In the amended budget process the Board set aside funds to implement the program. These funds are used to cover teacher replacement time, transportation costs, and supplies.
Student Leadership Presentation to Board.