A group of three students from Olds High School attended the Canadian Student Leadership Conference, getting a chance to develop leadership skills and network with 1,200 peers across Canada.
The event took place in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1.
Kurtis Layden, a Grade 12 student, Kevin Spicer and Logan Niemayer, both Grade 10 students, said the event was a good opportunity to see how other students organize events.
“Knowing that there was 1,200 youth from across the nation, being able to network with them … was a pretty cool opportunity,” Layden said.
He added that many of the students at the conference were from Saskatchewan as that province will be hosting the next conference.
Layden said there was also a lot of talk when they met students from elsewhere about the great job that Olds did in hosting the conference in 2009.
“It's rare that you get the students who have overlapped even two conferences, but to get students that have been to three conferences … is really something (rare). You get to hear the comparison between the conferences and how this small town in Alberta did compared to something like Montreal. That's kind of cool to hear from everyone,” Layden said.
Niemayer said one of the keynote speakers that he especially liked was Herbie Kuhn, the announcer for the Toronto Raptors. He was among six keynote speakers that included T.A. Loeffler, a professor of outdoor recreation, Danny Williams, the former premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Ryan Walter, a former NHL player, Gen. Rick Hillier, the former Chief of Defence Staff, and singer Chantal Kreviazuk.
Spicer said Kuhn also had a great message about demonstrating leadership through active participation and speaking up.
“He said that to be a leader you have to (lead) out loud,” he said.
Layden said his favourite speaker was T.A. Loeffler.
“She attempted to climb Mount Everest and so her message was finding your own Everest in what you want to accomplish in life and so that really stuck with me,” he said.
"Knowing that there was 1,200 youth from across the nation, being able to network with them ... was a pretty cool opportunity."Kurtis Layden, Grade 12 student, OHS
