The 2016 Leadership Seminar was held on Friday the 29 July. Overseen by Mrs Gerber and lead by Ambesa Daniels with the help of Yonela Mapela, Nicole Rhodes (pictures), Jessica Schoeman (pictures), Angelique Tee (visuals) and Claire van Rensburg (visuals).
The 2016 Leadership Seminar had the innovative theme of “Kindergarten Lunchbox Lessons”. We all reminisced about old lessons and memories from our childhood and learnt how these lessons had prepared us for the challenges of the adult world. With 190 girls in attendance it was clear the theme had awakened the child within us all and sparked the recognition of teachings past. We all eagerly tucked into our party packs as we simultaneously tucked into our lunchbox lessons.
The ice-breaker saw 190 excited girls frantically searching for the right people to complete their people bingo. The scurrying and zealous searching resulted in Sinoxolo Sango victoriously shouting “Bingo!” and receiving the sweet prize. Once the buzz had subsided we all listened intently as Ambesa introduced the theme to us all.
Ambesa and Yonela both humorously reminded us of childhood memories of playing in the sandpit and new toys and explained the lessons behind these memories. The simply action of learning to tie our shoe laces had actually been our first lesson in being persistent in the tasks we undertake. Sharing our crayons had been another first lesson in delegation. We all listened intently and watched video clips featuring Barney the purple dinosaur and The Kid President. Even Barney was able to teach us the lesson that nothing is impossible.
After a quick break we were educated by some of the graduates of kindergarten; the knowledgeable ladies of the 2016 Matric class. Martez Meyer dared us to delegate, educating us on her experience about how delegation helps make a committee stronger. Megan De Beer taught us that it’s okay to be the only person playing in the sandpit when the other children are playing on the swings. This taught us that when others have given up on a task it’s better for you to continue working at it until you succeed. Natheera Sirkhotte, Leslynne Kayster and Mthunzikazi Scott taught us more leadership lessons and gave us personal experiences to illustrate.
We have all left with a greater understanding of how to be a leader and make a positive influence in our chosen committees. These lessons which we took for granted when we were younger have shown us how to be better leaders in our last years at school.