On Feb. 4, Lake Land College’s (LLC) Student Government Association (SGA), along with the help of the Student Activity Board (SAB), hosted the High School Leadership Conference. There were more than 120 high school students in attendance at this event. The high schools that attended included: Neoga, Dieterich, LIFT, Stewardson-Strasburg, Cowden-Herrick, Effingham, Beecher City and Mattoon. This conference is meant to teach high school students the fundamentals of leadership and teamwork, as well as how to be successful leaders.  

The day started with an opening message from Vice President of Student Services, Heather Nohren. The students were then broken up into groups and sent off to their leadership sessions. These sessions covered various topics such as leadership building, dressing to succeed, communication, careers and so much more. There was also the keynote speaker, Josh McVicar, along with lunch and a Q&A with SGA. 

I spoke with the Secretary of SGA, Kailyn Tracy, about her experience during this year’s conference. I asked her questions regarding what type of session she led, how her experience leading it was, and if there was anything she could change or improve regarding the conference. 

Kailyn said that she worked with the Vice President of SGA, Aubrey Killey. Their session was called “Wiring Connections: Communication and Collaboration.” This session taught students how to improve their communication skills, while also teaching them how to collaborate well with others. This was meant to teach the students about how learning collaboration skills can help them in school, the workforce and their personal lives. They had prepared a slideshow, asked students a series of questions and then did a drawing game to get the students interacting with each other.  

I then wanted to know what it was like for her to lead her session. She said she had a lot of fun and also mentioned how she really enjoyed having the students play the drawing game during the end of the session, as it encouraged students to communicate with one another, and it was a success! 

I was then curious about if she had learned anything from the conference, and she said that since she tends to be on the shy side, this conference has taught her how to come out of her shell by leading her session with Aubrey.  

Lastly, I wanted to know if there was anything that she could change or improve regarding the conference, what it would be and why. She told me that she did not want to change anything; the kids had fun and everything ran smoothly.  

This conference continues to be a great success and the students who attend leave with important communication and collaboration skills. These skills will be very useful to them as they continue to navigate through school; and eventually navigate through the workforce.