VALDOSTA – On Monday, November 7, Scintilla Charter Academy’s Leadership Council governing board attended the 2016 Leadership Summit hosted by the Georgia Association of Student Councils at the State Capitol in Atlanta. Kylan Fox, Leadership Council president, Paul Gibson, vice president, Aggy Mathews, treasurer, Journee Walker, secretary, Katya Jackson, historian, and Ashley Brock, historian attended the summit along with Leadership Council sponsors Shaina Larson, Caty Quenga, Stephanie Brock and Nicole Frazier.
Scintilla Charter Academy was one of only three elementary schools from our area to attend the informative conference which focused on building exceptional leaders. The scholars participated in two general sessions as well as smaller breakout sessions that provided them the opportunity to collaborate with other council members from throughout the state.
Senator-elect Blake Tillery led a keynote speech that exposed the participants to the state budget and the jobs of state-level leaders. In addition to the leadership development sessions, attendees visited the National Center for Civil and Human Rights where they experienced exhibits on Martin Luther King Jr. and saw firsthand the roll of human rights throughout the years. The museum visit reinforced topics that have recently been discussed in the classroom such as Jim Crow Laws that were in place during the period of Reconstruction for the United States. It was an opportunity for the fifth grade scholars to take a deeper look at lessons from their first module in the EL curriculum that SCA is piloting this year.
“Simply attending the Leadership Summit in Atlanta was an opportunity that we as a first-year student council are beyond appreciative to have had,” said Shaina Larson, SCA’s Leadership Council sponsor.
“The experience was undoubtedly enriching for the scholars not only as young leaders, but also as a collective group of engaged learners. Their learning has been extended even further beyond the classroom after visiting the National Center for Human and Civil Rights, and the scholars also learned what it takes to be a successful leader which will hopefully resonate with them for years to come,” Larson said.
The day ended with the summit’s final general session, led by senator-elect Tillery, where he emphasized the four key components of leadership: showing up, being aware of arbitrary boundaries, questioning our own assumptions, and remaining grounded. The scholars will now spend the next few days redelivering all that they have learned to their peers during their morning Crew meetings and at the school-wide Community Circle meetings held each Friday morning.
