This year, a select group of Grade 8 and Grade 10 students participated in two different CAIS Student Leadership Programmes.
Grade 8 students participated in the CAIS Middle School Programme, a virtual conference this year, with three sessions throughout the year. Each online session allowed students to engage with other leaders from CAIS schools across Canada, and to learn from our keynote speaker Andy Thibodeau. Students learned effective strategies on dealing with negativity while inspiring care and came away with the key understanding that “Care is Contagious!” and to lead by example.
Our Grade 8 group was inspired to organize a canned food drive for the Salvation Army and to go to the donation site to see the great work being done by the volunteers there. This opened up potential student volunteer opportunities for future years as well.
Grade 10 students participated in the CAIS Senior School Programme and were fortunate to participate in an in-person leadership conference at Rothesay Netherwood School in New Brunswick. The theme for the conference was “We Are Because They Were”, with several powerful keynote speakers, including olympian Heather Moynes and the Honorable Graydon Nicholas, teaching from their personal experiences around learning from the past to lead into the future. Approximately 120 students from 30 CAIS schools came together to focus on building knowledge around what it means to be a leader, developing their leadership skills in small groups and participating in fun workshops and seminars.