Student Council members had the opportunity to attend the annual Student Council regional conference — a gathering of StuCo members from across the region — at Olathe South last Thursday. 

The conference — which Manhattan High hosted last year — was moved to Olathe due to issues encountered by StuCo in setting it up last year. 

“This year we did not [host the conference] because last year’s regional conference had some troubles and…  wasn’t as smooth as it should have been,” student body secretary Elizabeth Kim said. 

Despite the change in location, the StuCo officers in various team building and leadership activities, including listening to motivational speaker Heather Schultz, the keynote speaker of the event. Schultz also ran the workshop “Live Laugh & Lead,” which the members took part in.

“The most beneficial part [of the conference] was [the speaker],” senior class president Macy Hendricks said. “She did a good job relating topics that we would like… and she was really credible.” 

Schultz is prominent motivational speaker. She has spoken in 49 states and seven different countries sharing her experiences with young people. 

“Shultz told us… essentially to fall down seven [times] get up eight,” Kim said. “[As well as] to stop…  making excuses, stop putting the word but in sentences stopping you from doing things…. [to] go for everything.” 

Another important aspect of the conference was learning from and gaining ideas from StuCo members around Kansas. 

“I love being able to get Student Council together with other members of student councils to talk about their schools because they learn so much from each other,” sponsor Leslie Campbell said. “And the truth… is I learned from other sponsors being able to talk to them [as well].”

The members had the opportunity to meet students from other schools who are equally enthusiastic about leadership and StuCo.

“My favorite part was… seeing everybody, all the kids in the auditorium and how enthusiastic they were about student council and student leadership,” Hendricks said. “Everyone had this fire for leading.”

StuCo members will have the opportunity to go to a similar five-day conference over the summer at Emporia State University where they will build on subjects addressed at regionals.