Each year QAHS is honoured to receive an invitation for selected student leaders to attend the Senior Secondary School Captains Leadership Summit. The 2023 Summit, held at Runaway Bay Sport and Leadership Excellence Centre, provided our nominated leaders Grace Kim and Sara Shafei with the opportunity to develop their leadership skills while networking and collaborating with other Gold Coast student leaders. They were inspired by guest presenters and local community leaders: radio presenter and public speaking coach Moyra Major; Tokyo 2020 Gold Medallist Tom Green; and 2021 Queensland Australian of the Year, doctor, lawyer, scientist and disability advocate Dinesh Palipana. Grace reflects on her experience of this incredible opportunity below:
During the recent school holiday break, Sara and I took part in the 3-day Gold Coast Leadership Youth Summit at Runaway Bay. Not only did this camp bring us together as a team, but it was also admirable to see the ways in which each school's student leaders worked and how their strengths were used to benefit their unique school context.
In collaboration with School Captains from all around the Gold Coast, we were able to improve our leadership skills as a team, and also individually.
One task we were given was for each school to plan a physical activity that Year 6 students could participate in. With the help of teachers, instructors and fellow peers, Sara and I collaborated on a First Nations activity, a chasing-tagging team game called Edor. We then teamed up with captains from Pimpama State Secondary College to help in the teaching and facilitation of playing the game Edor with our Year 6 students. By assigning important roles to each captain in our team, we were able to enhance the productivity whilst playing the game with our Year 6 students. This task reiterated the importance of careful planning, clear communication and making connections with your peers in order to achieve an end goal.
The biggest task assigned to all school leaders at the Summit was to create an experience that we could take back to our own schools and implement. This experience needed to be one that the whole school would actively participate in and engage with. All schools pitched their activity ideas in front of school principals, and teachers. Since our school runs the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme, Sara and I decided to create a language competition that all Group 2 Spanish, French and Mandarin students would participate in. We look forward to bringing this plan to fruition in the first half of this year. If you're interested in watching the video of our pitch, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJN_JpL1ZuA
The Gold Coast Leadership Youth Summit was truly an amazing experience that allowed both Sara and I to create valuable bonds between captains from all around Gold Coast. We were able to gain insights on various school cultures and were inspired by the dynamic each school reflected.
Marnie Chetter
Teacher of English & Student Leadership Coordinator