This year, the conference had a change of scenery as it was hosted at Gary Allan High School in Burlington, which has only helped the conference provide a worthwhile experience for even more students and expand the reach of the positive messages presented throughout the day.
This year, the theme of the conference was Body Mind and Future, helping students learn how to tend to their physical and mental health as well as preparing for the future. The day was divided into 3 sections- academic focus (Workshop A), mental well being (Workshop B), and physical well being (Workshop C).
The day started out with an opening keynote by Dr. Heather Wheeler, a highly regarded clinical psychologist who determined the correlation between eating disorders and identity and shared her views on the topic with the audience.
The students then went on to attend one of the three academic focus workshops. High School 101 was presented by leaders from our own school who helped Grade 8 students prepare for the transition from elementary to secondary school. UPower Map was a workshop presented by Sara Westbrook taught students how to map out their life and plan out their road to success. The final workshop presented under the academic focus banner was Stress and Anxiety About School, presented by Peggy Goreski and Neelam Sahadeo, which discussed stress relating to academics and how deal with it.
The mental well being workshop also featured 3 different workshops. The first workshop was Mind your Mind by Theresa Wilson and Teresa Ricitelli, discussing mental health and how to take care of your own mental health.Also running at the time was a Body Image and Eating Disorders workshop by Judy Tipler which tackled the issues of mental health surrounding body image perceptions and eating disorders and the effect they have on us. The final workshop presented during that time was run by ADAPT and discusses ways to keep your brain healthy.
After a half hour lunch, the students attended the last workshop focusing on physical well being. The first was a self awareness workshop run by the yoga club from our school. The second was a Be Fit workshop run by Iroquois's RidgeFit club. The final workshop running at the time was a Personal Training and Health Workshop presented by Ms. Busby.
After the three workshops, the day ended with a fantastic closing keynote by the always great Sara Westbrook. Sara's presentation was unique, focusing less on giving speeches and more on conveying her message through songs and stories It was a strong curtain finale to a well organized and amazing day. With inspirational keynote speakers, effective workshops, and a well run program put together by the efforts of the IRHS Student Voice team, it was a truly remarkable event well worth missing school for and I would strongly recommend getting involved with the conference next year.
Photo credits to Daniel Hughes and Justin Bush
Looks and sounds like another great conference, sorry I missed it this year. Kudos to the staff and students at Gary Allan H.S. And Student Voice and their advisors, and parent volunteers for all their work and leadership.
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