On November 9th over 2500 student leaders from all over Ontario met in Niagara Falls for the start of the largest student leadership conference of it’s kind. 25 students from Iroquois Ridge were among them. The Ontario Student Leadership Conference (OSLC) is a 3 day event where students interested in, or pursuing leadership opportunities can listen to guest speakers, attend workshops, and meet with other students from around the province all while learning how to apply leadership in their own lives and their school community. 
This year I personally had the privilege of attending OSLC as an IRHS delegate. The experience was extremely
high energy and fun. Ian Tyson and Stu Saunders were the masters of ceremonies, but we also heard from guest speakers such as Cheryl Pounder (Canadian Olympian), and got our own inner leader pumped out with the aid of the Spirit Leaders (including our very own Co-PM, Connor MacLean). We explored the diverse applications and tools of leadership at a corporate marketplace, our school, and our lives in general. I attended workshops on finding your voice, maximizing opportunities, fearless female empowerment, and effective communication. Each were presented by a guest speaker with their own unique stories to tell, and lessons to teach. We got to discuss our school’s initiatives and achievements with fellow students from schools across the province. On the second night of the conference we had a blast with a live DJ, dancing, inflatables, Mario Kart and movies. While we were at OSLC, there was a film crew there creating an original documentary on the conference, and student leaders in Ontario, we are all eagerly awaiting it’s release!
A huge part of the conference are the awards, where schools are recognized for their show of school spirit, videos, and poster displays. Iroquois won the video award, called the OSLCARS, for Best Representation of Theme (check out the video below) and took the runner up position in the display contest for Best Representation of School. As the conference pulled to a close, it was announced that next year’s theme will be The Wonderful World of Leadership, and the keynote speaker will be Shane Koyczan (a personal hero of mine). Throughout the three days, I learned three extremely important lessons. Firstly, most everything we think about ourselves is learned, therefore, if we have negative tendencies we have the ability to replace them with positive ones. Secondly, leadership is a group effort, if it isn’t then you’re not being a good leader. And lastly, you don’t have to be a leader to pursue leadership opportunities, you just have to be prepared to learn. In all, I would recommend OSLC to any student at IRHS. It is a chance to become a leader if you already weren’t one and a chance for current leaders to learn how to improve. It’s an extremely powerful experience and I’m grateful that I was able to be a part of it.
For more information about OSLC go to http://ylcc.com/student-conferences/oslc-2015 and keep an eye out for applications in second semester if you’re interested in going next year.
Check out the school’s award-winning video below:
By: Alessia Collia
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