Leaders of Tomorrow

 

I had the privilege and opportunity to travel with Allie Avard '18, Robyn Hotte '18, Ben Dunk '18 and Noah Storey '18 to the CAIS Senior Student Leadership Conference being held at Toronto French School from April 26 - 29.

 

We arrived Wednesday afternoon and joined about 135 students and their 40 - 45 staff advisors from across Canada for the conference which was entitled "Find your Roots as an Individual and as Citizens.” After opening remarks from the Directors' of the Conference, Anne-Marie Kee, Executive Director of CAIS and then Dr. Josep Gonzalez, Head of TFS, we enjoyed a delicious dinner. The keynote speaker following dinner was Dr. David Lepofsky, a blind lawyer-activist who gave an inspiriting speech to officially start the conference.

 

Over the next three days we heard from a number of diverse speakers such as First Nations Shannon Thunderbird and Sandy Horne, Desmond Cole a freelance journalist, environmentalist businessman Jim Harris, Marc-Andre Blanchard the Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations, Amy Tepperman the Creative Director of GROOVE EDGEucation, Scott Hammell a motivational entertainer, author Dr. Emily Urquhart and Emmanuel Jal, former child soldier, political activist musician and actor.  The students also attended a number of workshops during the conference. Every night, they returned to Allie Avard's home where they stayed - tired, but inspired.  I was truly inspired and challenged by the speakers but I also gained so much from meeting and talking with my colleagues from across Canada. 

 

 

“Arriving at Toronto French School, we were immersed in an environment filled with people who shared the same passion of wanting to make their school a better place, it was truly was a special experience. This was an inspiring conference - listening to various keynote speakers sharing their stories to help us reach our full potential as leaders. The most inspiring part for me was meeting the diverse group of people at the conference, whether they were student delegates or teachers, they all had something unique to share. Secondly, being able to compare schools; talking about our leadership process and all of the activities that the schools have to offer, led to us gaining ideas to improve our own schools. 

 

“The session that impacted me most was my community service afternoon, I went to New Circles which is a clothing store that gives new Canadians clothes for free. It is a nonprofit organization that is run through government grants and donations. When I was there I was able to help a women try to find clothes for her 14-year-old daughter and herself. I had never appreciated, or had an experience where I felt that I had made someone's day and at New Circles, I had this moment there was this rush of joy that went through my body and it was so heartening. Overall this conference was amazing and would love to give everyone this experience.”

 

“The CAIS conference was such an amazing opportunity that gave me the chance to meet some very fun, like-minded people and share thoughts and ideas about what we thought was most important. With the entire conference, made up of students who either applied or were chosen to represent their school because they had displayed potential for future leadership, it created a group of people which was hard not to feel welcome in. 

 

“Amy Tepperman was the speaker of the session that inspired me the most. The activity was called “GROOVE EDGEucation Movement.” She had everyone get up to move and dance to the music like nobody was watching. What I took out of it is how important, yet fun, it is to simply do your own thing, even if you look a little silly while doing it. If you want to stand out from a crowd, you can't be doing exactly what everyone else is doing. It brought a smile to my face and to all of the people around me as well so that's why this presentation stood out from the rest.”

 

“Being able to attend the CAIS Student Leadership Conference was an incredible experience. Having the opportunity to hear inspiring speeches from distinguished speakers was remarkable. Listening to these speeches and being able to discuss them with different students from across the country was a profound experience. I was especially inspired by a speech by a visually impaired lawyer who is connected to the Ontario Disability Support Program. He spoke passionately about his life and the difficulty of living in a world where even accessible locations are often poorly designed. I hope LCS continues to participate in this conference in the future.”

 

It’s hard to know exactly how a leader is made. Is it something someone is born with, or is it taught through circumstance? I thought that this was the question that was going to be answered at the CAIS Leadership Conference. As it turns out, it doesn’t matter how one becomes a leader, what matters is how one reacts as  a leader. 

 

“The conference taught me, not how to be a leader - it is easy to be seen as a leader, but how to be a good one. It taught us to think of how our actions will impact the people around us. The speakers, through their experiences, taught us that to be a good leader we must think not only of our own images, but also that of those who support and surround us, that because we are the ones setting the example we always have to make sure that the people around us are just as safe from danger than we are. 

 

“The speakers taught us the importance of being globally aware and environmentally aware. They reminded us the importance of changing our current pollution-filled habits and showed us great ways to do so, they empowered us to create these changes by telling us over and over that we do and will have power to change the world.”