In a year, about 800 students and school staff advisors from across the province will congregate at Olds High School for the Alberta Student Leadership Conference (ASLC).A small delegation from Nunavut will also attend.The school will host the event, which features workshops and motivational speakers, from May 10 to 12 in 2015.“The overall goal I think is to kind of energize students, motivate them, to hopefully give them something that they can bring back to their school that they can also share,” said Melanie Hillier, a teacher who serves on the ASLC advisor steering committee. “Just to somehow make their school a more positive place.”According to Hillier's colleague Kumarasen Naidoo, who is also on the committee, the conference aims to empower youth for leadership roles.Hillier and Naidoo attended a presentation on June 5 at the school to tell potential sponsors what the conference is all about.The theme of next year's gathering is, “Jacked Up Leadership … Steering The Future,” a reference to steers and pickup trucks fitted with lift kits. The name was chosen to match the identity of Olds.“The jacked up truck was definitely a theme that kept coming up when we were brainstorming ideas,” Hillier said.Tentatively, the budget for hosting the event is about $120,000. Revenue will come from sponsorships and a $135 fee students pay to attend.Visiting advisors will be housed in hotels while students stay with billets.When she attended ASLC 2014 in Drumheller, Hillier said she received questions about the feasibility of student housing but does not expect any hurdles in Olds.She said billeting families in other host communities found the experience rewarding, which piqued the interest of others to open up their homes.“Experiences in general with that have been really good so I think just word of mouth, people are keen to do it again and the ones that missed out last time are willing to take it on,” she said.In 2009, OHS hosted a similar event, the Canadian Student Leadership Conference.The last time the provincial conference was held in town was 2005.Sandra Dorowicz was on the steering committees when the school hosted both events. When she travels the province, she meets lots of teachers and students who know of Olds because they've attended.“It's just an amazing event for everyone and super exciting. The spinoffs, I think, what it does for Olds, it really puts us on the map,” Dorowicz said.She described the preparation for the event and what it was like when hundreds of additional youth flooded into town.“For two-and-a-half days, takes two years to plan,” she said. “All of a sudden, when those kids come, just the energy and the noise and the excitement and the enthusiasm and you absolutely know it was worth every extra hour spent.”“To see our students actually get to put into practice what we talk about in a leadership class, it's really worthwhile,” she added.A teacher of about 30 years, Dorowicz will be retiring at the end of this year. But she will be sticking around to help out with the conference.“I'm going to continue to help. I will miss this too much,” she said. “I'll miss this school and miss these kids.”Leading up to the conference, students doing the organizing must balance academics, extracurricular activities in addition to conference work.Both Hillier and Naidoo are confident their students are up to the challenge.During their spares and lunch breaks, students will be busy making phone calls to community members or working on side projects, Hillier said.“The kids of that high calibre, they don't have problems managing their time and their academic work,” Naidoo said. “Even if it means they will come early to see a teacher, say 7:30, they will do it. We don't have to question them.”[email protected]
