The first annual Student Leadership Summit was held today, providing around 50 selected student leaders a chance to interact with administration and seek advice. Assistant principal Katie Bonnema designed the various activities and said they seemed to work out well with the students.

“It’s hard to ask kids to come in on one of their last days of summer and listen to a bunch of administrators talk, so we tried to do some things that were engaging; we tried not to do some things that were super cheesy and corny,” Bonnema said.
But I think it went well — the written feedback was mostly positive, so that was encouraging.”

An email was sent to coaches and sponsors in the spring asking what students they thought truly stood out as leaders for the upcoming year. A list of about 70 people was formed, including student body president Camille Abdel.

“I had no idea what to expect; I just got a post card,” Abdel said. “I [ended up] learning a lot. Putting the group or activity first and before yourself was a good perspective, the thing that Mr. Harms talked about.”

The student leaders were split into smaller groups and then met with administrators to discuss everything from what makes a leader to how to communicate accurately and effectively.

“Mr. Harms is really passionate about being a servant leader and leading from the bottom up, Mr. Legleiter’s really passionate about core values, and so on,” Bonnema said. “We matched those characteristics [of student leaders at BVNW] with what we perceived to be our own strengths so that we could then articulate it to you guys effectively.”

Bonnema said the summit was a learning experience and she looks forward to honing it and shaping it to meet the needs of student leaders in the future.

“We’d love to see it grow. It would be great if some of the sophomores were to come back next year, and then the seniors could maybe play a role in presenting to the students. We see it growing and changing as it is today to maybe something totally different in just a few years.”