An empowering event was held at DVSS on Monday, October 21, focused on student leaders.
The Canadian Student Leadership Association Horizons program came to the Kaleidoscope Theatre for students of DVSS, St. Anthony’s, and a number of schools from around the area. The program brings in a couple of speakers to share positive stories and leadership skills for the young attendees. They do about 40 of these events every year across the country and this was their first in Alberta this year. Ian Tyson was one of the presenters and shared stories on how he garners a positive outlook on life. “As I talk about it on stage, a lot of it comes from my childhood. Everybody’s got trauma, everybody’s got their own story. A lot of it would be from my Dad, the way we were able to take a bad situation, when my Mom passed away when I was young, then turning that into ‘we’re going to be ok’. There was always laughter and there was always happiness in our house and that is something I really owned and became part of my DNA. Through being involved in student leadership in high school, like these students are, that kind of solidified it and I was able to find a path to this.”
One of the organizers and teachers of DVSS, Cindy Sereda, saw Tyson when she was in school and it makes Tyson proud that she now shares those qualities with her students. “That touches my heart in ways I can’t even explain. When I see somebody, if I’m speaking at a school somewhere around Canada, they’re like ‘I saw you 20 years ago in this school, in this town’ that’s pretty amazing. I’m basically going in there under the impression within 10 minutes of leaving the room, they may remember that was said, which I hope, but they won’t remember necessarily who said it. That’s fine as long that they take the message with them.”
The other presenter was Larissa Franklin, an Olympic Softball competitor for Team Canada and her message was to look for that internal drive. “My message is really going to be helping them looking internal, looking within themselves. Inspiring them that they have everything they need inside of them to battle obstacles, to get through adversity, to overcome whatever challenges they may face, and to allow them to dream and lean into those skills and strengths.”
Franklin also shares what inspired her to be a leader. “The people that I’ve been surrounded by. The leaders that I have had in sport, outside of sport. I’ve had some phenomenal coaches who have inspired me, uplifted me, and really empowered me to be the athlete that I am. As well, I have some incredible teammates who I’ve looked up to and tried to be a sponge. Now, I feel like I’m in the position to be that person for other people.”
“Every once in a while you get one student that comes up to you that reminds you of the impact you’re having,” comments Franklin. “If it is only one student, you’re grateful to be able to have that. Hopefully, (the students) will take one thing from it that will stick with them for possibly the rest of their lives.”
The program is supported by the Government of Canada through their Youth Take Charge Program. The program brings in the speakers but the local students are in charge of the energy created in the venue which provides “hands on” leadership.
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