On December 6th, 2018, six of our 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students attended the Empower Youth Leadership Conference at the Holiday Inn, Burlington with SAP, Amy Sayre. They were joined by 40 other students from towns in Vermont, including Hinesburg, Charlotte, Williston, Winooski, Burlington, Grand Isle, and South Burlington. The students participated in workshops designed to build personal leadership skills.
The day started with middle level students working with student facilitators to establish their hopes and dreams for the world. These ideas were shared with students in Uganda via a live Skype conversation. As the day progressed, students engaged in activities aimed to enhance communication skills. Highlights included creating vision boards that identified future goals and learning about the power of nonverbal communication. In a workshop on money smarts, students learned about credit, debt, investing, and compound interest. The day ended with students learning how to practice and express gratitude as a way to bring abundance and positivity into their lives.
The event was organized by Hinesburg Community School teacher, Mary Muroski, and Charlotte Central School Counselor, Kathy Batty, and co-sponsored by the Children’s Legacy Partnership through a grant from the NOVO and Education First Foundations. Local sponsors, who helped with the event, included Larkin Realty, Holiday Inn Burlington, New England Federal Credit Union, and Lantman’s Market in Hinesburg. Another conference will be held in March and more of our students will be invited to attend. It was so heartening to see the insight that these future leaders have to make the world a better place for all!