On 23 January, the College Leaders of 2020 attended a Bond University ‘Young Sandstone Leaders’ conference run by the team at Peer Power. The day consisted of workshops, group activities and presentations from Bond Staff and Vice-Chancellor scholarship recipients. Along with other college leaders from schools around the Gold Coast and Brisbane region, we delved into the true meaning of leadership and how it applies to us as leaders.
Our first activity of the day was dissecting any fears or worries we have about our student leadership positions and what effect it would have on us. It was surprising to see that the majority of leaders in the room all had the same fears about leadership, and especially the fear of failure. Director of Peer Power, Michael Knight focussed on the fear of failure and why we worry so much about failing. We learnt that if we don’t fear failure than we can’t dream success.
Our next session focussed on the topic of ‘Why’. We took time to understand the why and purpose of our leadership roles and what we want out of them. After two morning sessions with Michael, we all split into three groups and focussed on the four topics of Virtue, Malleable, Change and Wisdom. Each topic had a different station with a group discussion and a team activity. In the Malleable workshop, we focussed on having a fixed vs growth mindset, and how it can determine lifelong learners. To further our understanding of the topic, we paired up with someone from another school to create a replica of the first aeroplane made by the Wright brothers using Play-Doh. The task demonstrated the true meaning of being malleable, and how you have to be open to being hammered or pressed into shape without breaking or cracking under pressure and responsibilities, just like a ball of Play-Doh.
With each group was a current Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship recipient from Bond University who worked with us in each rotation and answered any of our questions about leadership and university. To conclude the day, we had a final presentation from Bond University’s Indigenous Cultural Support Officer, Narelle Urquhart, who shared her life story of growing up in the stolen generation. Her story made us aware that you don’t need a badge or title to make you a great leader, but just the intentions to want to help others and lead with a willingness to succeed.
We all took away so much from the conference and it has certainly expanded our understanding of the type of leaders we want to be and what mark we want to leave at the College once we have graduated. It was very beneficial working with other students from other schools as we got to know their leadership positions, initiatives and challenges they face as leaders at their schools. The team at Peer Power and the Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship recipients from Bond University worked with us all day to ensure we were aware of the true meaning of leadership and how we are to enforce it into our leadership roles.
Gabriella Alfieri
Mackellar House Captain 2020
