THE ECHO

By Luke Stafford // Reporter

“Say keys!” boomed motivational speaker Ted Wiese as Avon students smiled for the camera, kicking off a day of high-energy leadership training.

Avon High School student leaders gathered on Aug. 20 for a leadership conference designed to help club leaders develop their leadership skills and bring new ideas back to their organizations. Among the students selected to attend were senior Halle Babinec, president of Next Gen, and junior Marvelous Olaniyan, who holds a leadership role in Student Government.

For Babinec, joining Next Gen began with an opportunity from Mr. Clark to become involved with the community. The club’s focus on connecting students with local entrepreneurs gave her a reason to get involved.

“Mr. Clark told me about an exciting opportunity for a club he was starting called Next Gen,” Babinec said. “It is a club dedicated to getting students out in the community and interacting with local entrepreneurs.”

The conference also gave Babinec a chance to develop her teamwork skills through activities with other student leaders. One activity showed her how different strengths can contribute to a team’s success.

“One of my favorite parts was each group coming up with our own song,” Babinec said. “This was a great way to increase my teamwork skills and realize that within a team, we play to our strengths to increase productivity of a problem.”

Olaniyan’s path to Student Government was different, as she had been interested in participating before but had not taken the opportunity to join. Going into her junior year, she decided to become involved and unexpectedly earned a leadership position.

“I’ve always been interested in Student Government but never had the courage to join,” Olaniyan said. “Now going into my junior year, I finally did it and, to my surprise, I got a leadership role.”

For Olaniyan, the conference changed how she viewed what it meant to be a leader. She learned that leadership does not necessarily depend on having all the answers, but on helping others work together.

“It made me realize that not all leaders possess infinite intelligence, but they all hold the important skill of being able to bring everyone together to collaborate and create amazing ideas,” Olaniyan said. “The convention showed me that everybody can be a leader.”