Willow Springs, Draper student councils apply leadership skills

In November, student councils from Willow Springs and Draper elementary schools attended a leadership conference at Brigham Young University. By December, both student leadership groups were putting their new skills into practice.

“We learned how to be good leaders and create team spirit in our school,” Draper Elementary sixth-grader Lina Hwang said. “We learned that if everyone is included in activities, we make everyone feel good inside and we create our own community.”

Her classmate, Kali Barlow, said that through workshops, videos and speakers, they learned that as a community, they need to help serve others within it.

“We’re going to do a lot for people in March, starting with a food drive because that’s when food supplies are low,” Kali said. “We want to help those near us as well as those in other places.”

Their “March into Service” project will include a can food drive for the Utah Food Bank, writing letters to those serving in the military and donating baby items and school supplies for Smiles for Central America.

“Through the project, our student council teaches their peers about serving their community, serving their country and serving their world,” said Draper teacher Amy Brand, who co-advises the student council with teacher Michelle Johnson. “The students also want to bring a motivational speaker to the school as part of an assembly.”

At the conference, students learned how to introduce themselves and shake hands, how to communicate and network and how to work as a team.

“They were taught not to be cliquish and abuse their ‘superpower’ as a student leader,” Johnson said. “They are showing everyone that they are part of a school community and inviting others to sit with them at lunch or play with them at recess. It’s changing the way kids are treating other kids at school.”

Willow Springs teacher Alex Rosansky said the student council held a school pride day, Dec. 13, where students wore PJs and watched a movie at noon to celebrate earning 1,000 “furbies” for the month. Students receive a “furbie” or a cotton ball representing the fur of the Willow Springs’ wildcat mascot, every time they show positive behavior in the school’s common areas. They represent school PRIDE, which stands for “Put people up, Respect others, In proper place, Directions Followed, and Exercise self-control.”

“This is a way for the students to act as positive role models for each other when they are not in class but changing rooms, lining up outside the school, and any other common areas that the whole school shares,” Rosansky said.

Willow Springs student council is also planning to create and show a monthly school news broadcast and then post it on their website.

Rosansky said that the leadership conference also helped the student council to learn to work as a team, problem-solve and plan for the future.