What do you get when you bring over 600 students from 25 different schools together for a meeting about student government?
Well, for starters you get noise. Lots of enthusiastic, spirited, uplifting, exciting noise.
As the attendees at the Trails West District meeting for the Missouri Association of Student Councils (MASC) arrived at Center High School (the host school) early in the morning on October 27th, they were greeted with loud cheers from over 50 CHS student leaders. They checked in and went to the cafeteria for breakfast treats and schools in the room spontaneously erupted in cheers as they ate. They moved to the general session which was co-emceed by Center students Kyra Coley and Nicco Giangrosso. During the session motivational speakers Jonathan Jackson (2009 CHS graduate) and Brandon White inspired students to cheer (loudly) and to learn about making an impact, owning their life choices and chasing relationships rather than “things”.
The “noise” is a wonderful sign of how engaged students were, but the real value of the conference comes in the learning. As they moved from the General Sessions to “Flock Talks” (MASC name for student-led, small group discussions) the students learned from each other about ways to lead, ways to serve their school and community, and ways to strengthen their own organizations. Examples of Flock Talk topics included Special Olympics, Homecoming Parade, Spring Fling, and No Cost/Low-Cost Service Projects.
A special moment during the General Session was the unveiling of a custom-built box to hold the Trails West ceremonial gavel. CHS woodshop teacher, Alec Chambers (SGA President when he was a student at Center) created the box, which was received with lots of (loud) applause and cheers.
At the end of the day, students elected their officers for the next year. Center High School hosted this year’s meeting as the “President” School for the region (elected last year). Other officer schools have various roles in planning the meeting. Fort Osage was elected as next year’s President and Center will again have a leadership role as District Secretary.
The bottom line is that students come to the conference to become better leaders for their schools and communities. Jeanette Giangrosso, faculty advisor for the Center SGA, often cites this quote from Robin Sharma, "Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It's about impact, influence, and inspiration."
Congratulations to the Center High School Student Government Association for hosting a fantastic event!!