Submitted by Hope Rosenlund
Dorman rising senior cross country and track and field athlete Hope Rosenlund talks about attending the NFHS National Student Leadership Conference in Indianapolis, Ind.
On Thursday, July 16 I arrived in Indianapolis, Ind. When I got to the Hilton Hotel I met the other state delegates, Alex Morales, Tamyn Garrick, Kelvin Pasley, and Sheree Williams. All five of us from different parts of the state. The adult delegate was Nessie Harris of the South Carolina High School League. We settled into our rooms then headed to dinner.
After dinner we had our first group session. Harvey Alston, a motivational speaker spoke to us about being H.A.P.P.Y.
H-Heart (Do everything with your whole heart)
A-Attitude (Have a good attitude 24/7)
P-People (Influence people around you in a positive way)
P-Pride (Take pride in what you do, but don’t be over prideful)
Y-You (Be yourself)
Be yourself while helping others and while having a positive influence on others! After our group session, we had our first state meeting. Four different states were together (S.C., N.C., Tenn., Miss.). We met and talked about why we were there, and what we could get out of this conference to take back to our communities.
I was a little nervous at first, but after I met everyone and finished my first day it turned out to be an amazing day. I was really excited to experience the next day!
On our second day, Friday, we had our second group session. Dr. Ennis Proctor of NFHS spoke on five character traits we need to always have.
Integrity - Tell the truth. Personality van open doors but only character can keep it open.
Serve - Enjoy helping others.
Excellence - Strive for excellence in everything you do.
Compassion - Remember who loves you.
Courage-
1. Physical (Be brave)
2. Moral (Courage to say “no”)
Bob Kanaby, the executive director of NFHS, spoke to us on how fortunate we were to be at this conference and how special we were.
He said that we were all brought together because of the love for our community/school. Everyone has to take responsibility to take what we learn at the conference and put it to good use.
Then, the author of Living Simple Community/Building Simple Community, Rich Luker, spoke to us about “time.” It’s the only treasure we have and we can choose to waste it, spend it, give it away, or invest it.
After our group session we had our first Breakout Session. In this session I learned about teamwork and healthy lifestyles.
Ways we can all demonstrate better teamwork are: including everyone, encouraging people, building trust, and sharing the glory in performances well done. Healthy lifestyles are a collection of daily practices that encourage optimum performance in athletics/fine arts/academics/and work. Athletes and performers practice healthy lifestyles by eating a balanced diet, getting sufficient exercise and sleep, handling stress in their lives, avoiding the use of alcohol/tobacco/or any other drugs, abstaining from sex, and by getting help from others when they need it. They are good role models for others.
After our breakout session, we went to our first elective.
My elective was on how to be a noble athlete.
A noble athlete is: the most capable among us, takes on the biggest challenges they face, take personal responsibility for their future, loses with dignity and wins with grace. They embody the best they can be, connect themselves to their own greatness, make athletes question bad behavior, and the game is better because of their existence.
We were taught to understand what we want not what others want for us. We were taught to follow our heart. We headed to lunch after our elective.
After lunch we had our second elective. My elective was “Money Matters.” Fifth Third Bank presented the importance of good credit and the importance of credit safety. We then headed to our second breakout session, sportsmanship and respect.
Respect is a key ingredient to being a good citizen. Demonstrating good sportsmanship is an important way to show respect, especially to others. This session helped me expand my understanding of what good sportsmanship entails and how it relates to showing respect inside and outside of school activities. We then went to our second state meeting where we discussed actions we can take to prevent problems and promote good citizenship. Simple things such as, making sure a visiting team feels welcome, and holding team meetings to promote good sportsmanship/citizenship.
After our state meeting we went to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. We had a great time exploring through the museum and we saw the new King Tut exhibit, which was incredible. At the museum two local Olympians came to speak to us. Dedee Nathan, a track star, and Samantha Peszek, a gymnast.
They spoke to us on influence and the effect it has on others. We are all leaders and we have to act like it at all times. And they told us that nothing comes easy and you have to work at anything you want to accomplish. The museum concluded our busy day. The second day at the conference was very informational and enjoyable!
After breakfast on day three we went to another breakout session. This session was on positive values and perspective. Some of the top positive values we discussed were:
Discipline
Pride
Good relationships
Good work ethics
Loyalty
Integrity
Humility
Respect
We talked about how we could promote positive values as a student leader. Some examples of the things we discussed were: leading by example, inclusion, recognize good deeds, and many others.
We also talked about ways we could maintain balance in our lives. By using our time wisely, having an accountability partner, taking responsibility and more. After this session we went to another state meeting. We talked about what we could bring home to our schools/communities.
After that we headed straight to our community service project. We all went to local high schools and helped out. At the high school S.C. went to we had many jobs to do: painting lockers, clearing a fence covered with weeds, cleaning storage rooms and many other jobs.
I really enjoyed the service project because this was the perfect opportunity to put what we had learned this week to use. After the service project we went back to the Hilton and had dinner and then a dance.
Our last day came quickly on Sunday. After our last group session was done by magician Steve Bargatze. He was an incredible magician and his testimony was incredible as well. He talked about how not to pick on kids and how to include everyone and make everyone feel welcome. His story impacted many people at the conference.
Conclusion
We all dreaded the time to say goodbye to all of our new friends before we flew home, but it was an amazing week and we all learned a lot and I think that our communities and schools will be different when we come home to share what we have learned.