Our new student council grade representatives and committee members dedicated a weekend in mid-September to brainstorming the vision and goals of the year ahead.  “Why do we have a student council?” became the leading question and theme of CIS’ 2017 student council leadership retreat.

We began with the question of ‘why’ to start the conversation about our long-term goals and explore the purpose of a student council and our roles as student representatives. As we engaged in a variety of activities, learned leadership skills and bonded as a community, we explored important issues including the importance of student advocates, how to improve school spirit, and building a better community.

We learnt that being a good leader involves learning to work with others. We engaged in an exercise where we were stranded on the ocean and split into two teams. Our leaders were tasked with negotiating and agreeing upon the priority ranking of 15 items essential for survival. Harder than it seems, tensions rose as the ‘great chocolate debate’ reared its head. Is chocolate or shark repellant more important? By a majority of 1, chocolate won despite loud opposition. More important than victory, it became clear that the real message of the activity was how difficult, yet essential it is, to be a good leader. A fair leader is inclusive and understanding but capable of making difficult decisions without 100% agreement.

Although our grade representatives and committee members made a valiant effort that deserves recognition, leadership is not something that can be mastered in two days. Ultimately, being a leader is more than just having a set of qualities, and the art of community building is not easily learnt. It’s a growing process of learning to fall and get back up, and it is an immense task to hand to students. Nonetheless, the leadership retreat concluded with students brimming with confidence, and the executive team has the utmost faith in the new student council members, and the numerous events and ideas that they have planned.

Finally, I’ll finish off with words from our student council president, Mudra Kashyap: “It was amazing to see the enthusiasm student council members have to work with their peers to make their school experience more enjoyable and inviting. The plans they’ve made over this weekend will surely make this school year very exciting.”

We all look forward to the new school year.