John Paul II Collegiate SRC members Jocelyn Hrabinsky, Victoria Winterhalt, Cole Degenstein, Cassidy Stynsky, Jesse Schmidt, Ben Fransoo and Tawnie Kotyk attended the annual Saskatchewan Student Leadership Conference in Watrous Sept. 19.
The students were joined by SRC advisors Janet Benoit and Cheryl Thompson.
At Watrous they were greeted by the Spirit Team, and enjoyed a barbeque. Later, students and advisors gathered in the Watrous Curling Rink to watch the opening ceremonies, and were then graced with a presentation on Escape Arts by Scott Hammell. The presentation included magic tricks, juggling hatchets and escaping a straight jacket on stage. Judging by the roar of applause he received, Hammell's presentation was entertaining.
The students were placed with billets overnight and the next morning they again , gathered in the curling rink, where the Spirit Team started the day by firing up the delegates' enthusiasm.
Once everyone was wide awake, awards were given out to outstanding members of SRC teams.
Olympic silver medalist Cori Morris talked about the road to her Olympic medal. If you want to succeed at something, she said, you need to learn that it's not the end of the world if you don't succeed.
Justin Boudreau gave a presentation on learning to accept one another for who we are.
After a short nutrition break, students split into smaller groups to attend different group sessions. The sessions included a concert, a trade show, a presentation on living your life to the fullest and a presentation on body image.
After the group sessions ended, students returned to their billets' homes to get dressed up for the SLC Banquet. The banquet hall was packed with students and advisors looking their finest, enjoying their roast beef supper. Students were invited to attend a beach themed dance following the banquet. The floor of the Watrous Arena was covered in sand, and the building was decorated with strings of lights, a giant music video display screen, artwork created by students at Winston High School, Watrous and streamers.
The next morning, students gathered at the curling rink for the last time to hear the story of a man named Spencer West, who was amputated from his pelvis down at a very young age. Throughout his life, he's accomplished many things, such as taking a trip to Africa to do mission work, fundraising for Free the Children foundation and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
Students and advisors then participated in the Terry Fox Run alongside Terry's brother, Fred Fox. Following the run, Fred spoke to the students about his life, and what it was like to grow up with Terry.
Fred was a fantastic closer to a very well set up conference.
