Senior School Leadership Challenge Accepted!

The SS Leaders and Staff workshopped the roles they have been elected / appointed to, expectations associated with positions of leadership, how to make informed decisions (even if unpopular) and what it means to set an example for students from Kindergarten all the way through to Year 12.

Team building and problem-solving was an important element of the day, and with great enthusiasm and energy, the students and staff participated in challenges on the land and on the sea.    Being tested physically and mentally brought out the best in everyone. The activities also highlighted some individual frailties which may not be obvious on the surface, but do exist deep down in most of us and can cause anxiety when trying to appear confident and competent to our peers.

The day was capped off in style with a formal dinner at the College Campus hosted by the Senior School staff, giving back by providing meal service to the 2016 Leadership Team.

Reflections on the day from Carl Gearing & Olivia Payne
Following worship led by Dr Youlden, we made the journey to the RAW Challenge at Doyalson.  Upon arriving we were greeted by rope ladders, wall climbs and many other obstacles that were initially out of view. We clambered out of mud up to our knees, shimmied over wobbly beams (much to Jonah’s delight), vaulted over walls, trudged through slush, ran across floaty mats as well as climbing up and sliding down a quarter pipe.  Throughout the challenge, we relied on each other’s strategic thinking and put our trust in the taller members of the team as we were hoisted over the barriers. The start of the day was a really good team building exercise where we had to all work together and I was stoked to see an abundance of encouragement and enthusiasm from every single person. 

After finishing the challenge we all spent a lengthy time in the hand showers trying in futility to remove the accumulated mud and dirt.

Getting back to Kilaben Bay, we (mostly Mr Goss), were keen on some tucker and a few sausages and fausages (that’s fake sausages), as well as various denominations of pasta. You don’t often regret food that’s too nice, but following the jetski and boat trips sponsored by Mr Martin, Mr Watters, Mr Payne and Mr Anderson we paid for overindulgence with cries of “yeah, I’m definitely feeling that sausage”, “Oh dear, that last big plate of pasta was a mistake”.   The afternoon was well spent having fun which I believe is essential for everyone to feel comfortable, hence, increasing our potential to work well as leaders in the school. 

We were ushered home to change before meeting back at school for a closing dinner which the teachers had kindly prepared for us. The highlight of the dinner was definitely either the verbal prowess that Mr Goss managed to maintain throughout his talk of the components of being a good person and a strong leader or watching over and over again footage taken of a specific person sliding down the halfpipe after trying to reach the top.

We bonded with each other and honed our team building skills, learnt self-reliance, self-confidence and persistence while getting dirty and having fun. The day also inspired us to strive to be the best we can be as a team of leaders. It was the perfect time to reminisce and find out more about the rest of our team. Leadership day taught us how to use each person’s ability to maximise our potential to be great leaders.

Thanks to the teachers for all the organisation, effort and consideration that went into the day, it’s definitely something that we will hold onto for a long time.

SS Captains: Jonah Armstrong and Olivia Payne
SS Vice Captains: Beau Jackson, Letitia Halliday and Chelsea Powell