Proverbs 24:27 says “Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.”
Preparing us was distinctly what the Leadership training day intended to do. On Wednesday 11 November, a group of 34 newly commissioned Year 12 students had the privilege of engaging in a Leadership Training Day, which would ultimately establish a foundation for a strong, cooperative leadership team for 2021. A day filled with fun, teambuilding and bonding, a day that taught us, encouraged us and motivated us, in an overall effort to excite and prepare the Student Leadership Team for the year ahead.
Mr McCormack and his session on ‘The Heart of Leadership & Modelling the Way’, commenced our day of training. This allowed the team to understand what leadership truly means and to identify our key values as a team. However, the main message Mr McCormack sent to the team was the importance and methodology behind building credibility and trust, which if achieved, he claims will allow for a ‘flow of influence’. During this session, the team was able to define a leader as “an individual, not with the power of authority, but with the power of influence”. Contrary to beliefs that leadership starts with superiority and authority, after an inspiring presentation from our very own Director of Student Wellbeing, Mr McCormack, the team was able to recognise ‘leadership’ as starting with a willingness to influence.
Following this, the next session that the leadership team would engage in would be a seminar targeted at knowing our strengths and passions, growing a vision of what is possible and learning how to communicate this vision to the community. The session in ‘Knowing our Strengths & Inspiring a Vision’, presented remarkably by Strengths Coach, Katie Schrack. This session prompted each leader within the team to not only identify their own top 5 strengths, with the assistance of Mrs Schrack, but to also identify our top strengths as a team. Additionally teaching us how we could utilise these skills to ultimately strengthen the team and make it the best the school has seen thus far. The willingness of Mrs Schrack to share her expertise and educate us on her passion turned out to be extremely beneficial towards the team, both as individuals and as a group of young, determined students.
In the final session of the day, ‘Encourage the Heart & Building Community’, we were given the opportunity to meet with the other students and teachers involved in our Portfolio of Leadership. Through this, we were able to identify possibilities and challenges concerning our Portfolio, determine strategies to call, enable and equip others to act, as well as establish methods to which we can effectively encourage the heart, influence and shape the community, in and out of the College. There are currently a myriad of exciting ideas and endeavours in the works as of now, with each Portfolio meeting regularly to determine objectives and outcomes that work in the best interest of the College and effective and sufficient strategies to achieve such goals.
On behalf of the Student Leadership Team, we are extremely grateful for the time and effort put in by each teacher involved in the planning and operating of our Leadership Training day, including our College Principal, Mr Whelan, along with Mr & Mrs Schrack, Mrs Howard and Mr McCormack.
The following are just some of the responses to the day from a group of our student leaders for 2021.
“I found it helped us determine our strengths and weaknesses which overall helped us connect as a team” – Ayaka Stratti
“It was a good way to explore the versatile talents and opportunities within the Student Leadership Team” – Risha Singh
“It was a great way to connect and establish a foundation for the team” – Alana Mansour
“We were able to identify our strengths which could really benefit us moving forward into 2021” – Damien Trimboli
“From the training day, the main lesson I learnt was that, whatever you put in is what you get out” – Tristan Moledo
“It was good and helpful day and I think if we apply everything we learnt in our endeavours, it will turn out beneficial for the team and the College in the long run” – Eric Long
Marie Stambe
Year 12 Student Leader
