Young leaders, advisers enriched by national conference

Kevin McBain
of The Clarion
with files from Heidi Marchant and Devin Vanthuyne, SLC advisers

Nine students and two staff members represented Kindersley Composite School at the Canadian Leadership Conference in Waterloo, Ont.

This was the 33rd year for the event, held Sept. 23 to Oct. 1. It brings together youth and adults from across the country who are committed to leadership and making a difference in their schools and communities.

The theme of this year’s event was Startup Leadership; Ignite Your Innovative Spirit.

The week began in and around Toronto for a pre-conference tour. The purpose of the pre-conference is to immerse delegates in the culture and tradition of the host province.

They spent time at the aquarium, the CN Tower, the harbour front, the Invictus games location in front of the Eaton Centre, Canada’s Wonderland, a Blue Jays game and Niagara Falls. They put on many miles and saw many things, all in the midst of a heat wave that felt like 40C with the humidity.

The conference began Tuesday, Sept. 26. The excitement of having 900 students, and 200 teachers and administrators from across Canada diverge in one place for a common purpose is like no other.

“It was very high energy all the way along,” said Deavin Vanthuyne and Heidi Marchant, SLC advisers. “It was really positive. Everyone is there for one goal and it would be so great to take all of our students.”

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Throughout the conference there were amazing and inspiring speakers, educational workshops, excellent teacher professional development, countless networking opportunities, a lot of noise and so much fun, according to Vanthuyne and Marchant.

Speaker Stu Saunders talked about goal-setting, passion, purpose and the importance of not doing things half way. Dr. Samantha Nutt, the founder of an organization called War Child Canada, spoke about travelling to war torn countries throughout the world in an attempt to educate and take care of women and children who are victims of war.

“She taught us to resist the negative, to change our message if no one is listening, write our why, and not to give to charity but rather give to change,” said Vanthuyne.

Molly Burke, who has experienced loss of her vision as well as years of bullying, taught that we’re not defined by our challenges, but rather by how we deal with those challenges.

Mike Smith’s keynote revolved around the concept of helping others. Smith is the founder of an organization called Skate for Change that enables youth on skateboards to deliver socks, toques and other basic necessities to homeless people across the United States.

He said we should not be leaders because of the recognition, and that helping others happens when no one else is looking.

He talked about the three types of people in life: those who wish, those who talk and those who do. He called for all of us to be the doers and to celebrate each other’s accomplishments.

Delegates also were immersed in the culture of the local region. Two of the cultural moments the group experienced were an authentic Octoberfest evening at the German Concordia club, and education on the local Mennonite culture and a visit to St. Jacobs Mennonite village and farmers market.

Students also spent an afternoon giving back to the city of Waterloo by collecting food for the Kitchener/Waterloo food bank.

Advisers were treated to top-notch professional development workshops from presenters such as George Couros, who spoke about innovation and the innovator’s mindset; Jen Green, who spoke about the science of happiness; professors of psychology at Laurier University, who spoke about dealing with mental health in teens; Breakout.edu, who taught how to design escape challenges to promote critical thinking in classrooms; an Unconference session on the topic of innovation in schools; Dorothy Karlson, who spoke about a year in the life of student activities; as well as Meet the Maestros workshops where educators from across Canada share the ideas that work best in their classrooms and schools.

It was an exciting week to be sure for those in attendance.

Three Grade 10 students talked about their time at the conference.

Katelyn Miller said that it was a great experience. “There was a workshop that put in our minds ‘How do you want to be remembered?’ and that we need to stand out,” she said. “Getting to know people from different provinces was really good as well.”

Ryker Olafson, KCS student and SLC member, said that it was a great experience. “Just meeting a bunch of new people was great,” he said. “The keynote speakers were great, especially Molly Burke.”

He said that through going to the conference, he has felt more confident in himself and what he’s about.

Jensen Reichert enjoyed getting to know more people and getting to know her fellow students was one of the big things she took away from the experience. “Every keynote speaker was good,” she said. “They had a dream and they did it. I think all of us came back feeling that we can do whatever we set our mind on doing.”

Vanthuyne and Marchant have been to many provincial and national events and both said that they bring something different back with them each time they go.

“It’s great for professional development and working with the students and adults,” said Vanthuyne. “It’s great for getting more ideas and bouncing ideas off of each other.”

Marchant talked about learning how to change the climate in the staff room.

“Happiness at work is very important,” she said. “We gained lots of ideas to promote the attitude of gratitude among everyone and we learned just how much happiness affects performance of staff and students.”

Vanthuyne and Marchant have been unbelievable at training students to become better leaders at Kindersley Composite School for many years and they have attended innumerable conferences, workshops and spent countless hours working with students.

This year they were recognized with the Canadian Student Leadership Association’s Leadership of Distinction award for 2016-17. The award is given each year to an adviser (or advisers) who consistently demonstrate excellence in leadership and an extraordinary commitment to the development of student leadership in Canada.

Congratulations to both on a job well done helping raise future leaders in our community, province and country.

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