The LEAD leadership conference in Chicago teaches student leaders with workshops and lectures.

Several students from Orono’s student council and National Honor Society attended the LEAD (Leadership Experience and Development) conference in Chicago from Feb. 17 to Feb. 19. The conference was composed of student councils from around the United States as well as some foreign countries such as Honduras and Thailand.

The conference began with a six and a half hour bus ride to Chicago accompanied by other members of student councils throughout the metro area. The rest of the LEAD conference was composed of learning sessions, speakers and bonding time with fellow students.

Junior Garey Symington said that LEAD was composed of “leadership based workshops and lectures by motivational speakers.” Several workshops as listed by the conference brochure include: “Thinking Outside the Box”, “Learning to Lead”, “Celebrity Style Leadership” and “Keeping the Balance.”

Orono High School English teachers and student advisers Grace Nohner and Jessica Frie accompanied the senators on the trip, which included students from 9 through 12 grade. Senate advisor Nohner said that “the experience was awesome, I learned a lot and had a lot of fun.” Nohner was in charge of helping facilitate a group for opening activities, and enjoyed bonding time with Orono students.

A few students from Orono even ran workshops at the conference. Junior Jeff Sauer ran a workshop titled “From Campaigning to Leading,” in which he taught leaders “tools about running a successful campaign and the crucial execution to be elected” according to the LEAD website. The workshop was a success, and Nohner said Sauer was “articulate and intelligent” throughout his entire presentation.

Seniors Sophia Sodhi, Talia Zadeh, Tori Wilson and Laura Kuehn also ran a workshop, titled “Just Do it!”. The girls taught participants how to bring an organization together with bonding activities. Zadeh said that the goal of the workshop was “to engage students and unite them to develop a ‘just do it’ attitude.” There were about 80 people involved in each session of the workshop.

The theme of this year’s LEAD conference was “Energize your Leadership!”, and that theme was expressed in the workshops and most of all with motivational speakers. Speaker Ted Wiese, who is known as one of America’s best youth leadership development speakers, started off the conference with a monologue about teamwork and problem solving.

Senior Sophia Sodhi has been attending LEAD conferences since she was a freshman and decided that this would be a fulfilling way to wrap up her student council career. Sodhi said that “Ted Wiesey was a really good speaker,” and recommended that people sign up for LEAD in the future because, “the more that go, the better the experience.”

Harry Hutter is the Advertising Editor for The Spartan Speaks