It is said that the best leaders lead by action rather than by words.
Melissa Laschowski, the instructor of the Grade 9 Leadership Projects Class at Glen Avon, is applying that philosophy with teaching her students the art of leadership.
Instead of getting her students to gain an understanding of what it takes to be a good leader through theoretical work, the class collaborated on a real-life project that tested their mettle as leaders.
They organized the school’s Terry Fox Walk, which took place on the Sept. 28 morning.
There were hundreds of students between Grade 1-9 and 60 staff members participating in the run, according to Kaeden Von Niessen, who served on the scheduling committee for this project.
“What we have decided to do keep the run organized is to have different groups start the race at different times,” explained Von Niesssen last week, in advance of the run. “Every few minutes, we will make an intercom announcement for a new group to come down and run the race.”
The kids also took charge in promoting the event beforehand.
The class told the Journal that posters were hung up around the school and community, announcements were sent over social media and they contacted local media outlets.
Another responsibility that the class took on was to go classroom to classroom to talk about the importance of Terry Fox’s mission and to provide fellow students the logistics of how the run would operate.
Setting up directional signs to guide the students and staff along the route was another task that the class took on. They designed the posters themselves.
Laschowski told her class that she “is really impressed with all the hard work all of you have been putting into this project.”
The students said they have learned a lot from the experience.
“What I learned from organizing this run is that it takes a lot of organization and work to do these events,” said Jade Ladouceur.
Thoen Dion said he really appreciated that “people were listening to our ideas” throughout the planning process.
The students of this class will be afforded more opportunities to put their leadership skills into action. They will be assigned to complete projects that are similar in nature to their experience with the Terry Fox Run.
The Grade 9 Leadership Projects Class includes Megan Adkins, Jordan Cardinal, Ethan Colina, Cassie Conner, Thoen Dion, Devyn Dubelt, Logan Elliott, Faithe Hunter, Kerstyn Kehler, Jade Ladouceur, Shane Ladouceur, Cassidy Lysons, Jaypee Malonzo, Jordan Morris, Graeden O'Dell, Ullysses Painagan, Garrett Quinney-Cardinal, Courtney Schellenberger, Kyle Suan, Francis Tac-An, Kaeden Von Niessen, Beau Whelen and Colton Yuschyshyn.
