Student members of the Drama Club executive board hopped on a bus from Timberland High School on Sept. 5 to The Lodge of the Four Seasons at the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, to meet with schools around the state, and learn about roles in leadership.
At the Thespian Leadership Conference, students attended workshops, met with oth]er schools and learned important information about the upcoming State Thespian Conference (ThesCon) in January.
“It went really well, we really expanded on the bounds of leadership and got excited for ThesCon,” Marley Higlen (11) exclaimed excitedly.
However, before the workshops began, the members of exec board had a fun evening of bonding and fellowship, both on the bus and at the Lodge, as this year they got to drive down a night early so they could be well rested and attentive the next day.
“Since we went down early, we got a lot of good sleep and were able to ‘lock in’, so to speak, the next day,” states Tyler Bugg (12), a member of the executive board. “It definitely got us in the right mindset for the next day.”
The whole trip down, members of the board played drawing games, word games, and card games to keep themselves entertained and get to know one another even better than before.
“One important thing about Leadership (Conference) is our team gets to bond really well there,” Bugg continues.
The following day, students on the board woke up at 6 a.m. to get their things together and meet for the opening ceremony, where Student Thespian Officers were introduced, and following that, all exec boards from different schools in the state separated to go to a variety of workshops. These unique workshops included: “Advocacy In Action: Elevating Theatre Education”, “Prop Skills: How to Make Fake Food”, “FUNdraising”, “Improv Intensive”, and more.
During these workshops, students got to learn from mentors who worked firsthand with theater and theater education, and also collaborate with other school’s exec teams to find the best angles to approach theater leadership in schools.
“To me, what’s important about the Leadership Conference is that sometimes people think there’s only one right answer to problems or how things are run, so it’s important to share ideas and learn from those around us,” Higlen said after returning home. ‘It’s good to compare and contrast how our boards are run so we get the best answers.”
The results of a well-rested weekend of workshops are clear: Leadership thrives when it is a team effort. When we have each other’s shoulders to lean on, and have conversations on what we each do differently, change happens in our schools. Leadership isn’t about just being in charge– it’s about bonding, collaborating, building relationships, and using those elements to build firmer foundations for those around us.
