SUDBURY—Have you ever wondered what makes a good leader? Last week, 10 Manitoulin Secondary School students found out!
This past Thursday, April 24, the students attended the annual Stand Up Speak Out conference. The student-run conference is focused on promoting leadership and collaboration. It was open to Grade 9 and 10 students from all Rainbow District School Board (RDSB) secondary schools. Each student was invited to College Boreal to participate in group activities, a keynote presentation, and breakout rooms that cover a variety of topics. This year’s event focused on promoting the use of different forms of intelligence to help guide students’ leadership. These types of intelligence explored included kinesthetics, art, intrapersonal/extrapersonal, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), and environmental.
The day kicked off with a short introduction from the Student Senate, the committee that hosted the conference. The Student Senate is “a body of student leaders established by the Board and elected by students from district secondary schools. The student senate elects and advises Student Trustees and represents students on the standing and advisory committees of the corporate Board.” Three MSS students – Cameron Meawasige, Athena Gravelle, the Student Senate’s treasurer, and Alexandra Wilson-Zegil (me!), the 2024-25 RDSB Student Trustee – played a role in organizing this conference.
Next, the students moved into a team-building exercise. At the start of the day, students were divided into groups of ten and tasked with a creative challenge: make a model mansion out of marshmallows and toothpicks. To onlookers, the activity may not appear to be all that constructive. However, skills used to build these houses – collaboration and communication – are used every day in professional fields, though it may be more fun than a corporate workplace.
After constructing their mansions, students listened to the conference’s keynote presentation. This year’s speaker was Ian Tyson, a comedian from St. Thomas, Ontario. Ian is “one of North America’s top inspirational speakers, and has spoken at hundreds of schools, TEDx, and dozens of conferences about teaching optimism, resilience and kindness.” Ian was a highlight of the day for several participants, one student said, “The public speaking event by Ian Tyson was my favourite. It was very motivating and inspiring!!”
After lunch, breakout rooms began. These were smaller groups where students participated in workshops with community leaders. Each student attended two sessions and had a choice between several different topics. Students could choose between Sports Intelligence led by Matthew Cootes, Artistic Intelligence led by Hazel Davis, Intrapersonal/Extrapersonal Intelligence led by Ian Tyson, Environmental Intelligence led by Ryan Lafraniere, and STEM Intelligence led by Alexandra Wilson-Zegil (me again!).
Remember the toothpick-marshmallow houses? After breakout rooms were completed, students participated in a business pitch activity using the mansions they created. Each group presented their creations on stage for the rest of the conference-goers.
This conference was a great opportunity for young Manitoulin student leaders to develop their skills and connect with their peers from across Sudbury. The skills they learned there will be taken back home with them and used in various MSS extra-curriculars, such as Headstrong, Student Council, the Athletics Association, and SHARE/Go Green.
by Alexandra Wilson-Zegil
