Young leaders in the making
16 Nov 2020
As popular as ever, the annual half-day leadership conference, Be Inspired, saw 200 eager Year 7 students from 17 schools around Canterbury descend on College on Wednesday 11 November.
They came to immerse themselves in the challenges of the afternoon and to pick up some advice and skills about leadership – and most importantly of all, to be inspired.
Organiser of the day and Director of the Centre for Character and Leadership Darrell Thatcher says the aim was to send them away with increased knowledge about leadership and most importantly, confidence in their capacity to embrace it.
From intermediate and full primary schools around the city, the students settled in to a programme of a plenary session by Sam Johnson, Old Boy and founder of the Student Volunteer Army and two workshops.
Sam’s enthusiasm kept the audience enthralled as he spoke about his journey, the establishment of the SVA at the time of the 2010–2011 earthquakes, and how everyone has different strengths to contribute to a project.
“They can be a visionary, a doer, planner, promoter or reviewer,” he said.
He also emphasized that collective success is more important than a single part of the project.
The workshops that followed gave the young students a chance to mix across their schools. They were run by the SVA, Attitude and Christ’s College PE teachers Matt Cortesi, Matt Thatcher and Ben Sheat.
