Over 70 students traveled to Peetz to participate in the annual conference
The concepts of leadership and communication got quite a workout in the Peetz High School gymnasium on Monday.
More than 70 students from six schools gathered at the gym to participate in the annual North Central League Student Council Summit.
Brian Kurz, social sciences teacher at PHS and student council sponsor, said the annual summit lets school leaders from the league get together outside of their usual competitive environment.
Teacher Brian Kurz shares an illustration of the things a person needs to have in their life in order to be a good leader. (Jeff Rice / Journal-Advocate)
Students sort themselves according to their birthdays in an exercise in non-verbal communication. (Jeff Rice / Journal-Advocate)
Peetz freshman Savannah Huls and facilitator Toby King talk about characteristics of achievers during Monday's Student Council Summit.
Lyle Schumacher, left, Bob Wells and Dave Johnson "talk bowling" during the Chicken Lips portion of Monday's Student Council Summit. (Jeff Rice / Journal-Advocate)
“They get to communicate with each other without a piece of athletic equipment in their hands,” Kurz said. “It’s a collaborative situation, and we hope they learn to communicate with each other in a way they normally don’t.”
Activities opened with a participation event directed by Toby King, a long-time classroom teacher and now owner of Improving Outcomes 4 All, LLC, in Windsor. King divided the students into four groups and had them analyze the characteristics of four types of people — achievers, persuaders, supporters and analysts — that they would normally work with at school and later in life. After the students had come up with their own list of characteristics, King compared the students’ lists with those of experts on leadership. The lists were surprisingly similar.
After the morning session, Kurz lined the students up along a sideline of the gym and, in complete silence, sort themselves by height and again by birthday. Later, the students engaged in a lively game of dodgeball, both to get them to work collaboratively and to work off some excess energy before lunch. He then had each student toss one shoe into a pile, walk in a circle, then grab a shoe not their own and try to find the shoe’s owner.
After lunch, the group met Bob Wells and Dave Johnson of the World Humor Organization, also known as Chicken Lips. The comedic duo use humor to teach about working together to a common goal.
Wells and Johnson had students participate in improvisational sketches based on the television show “Whose Line Is It, Anyway?” A typical sketch had a student and Johnson talking about bowling, but they had to pretend they were one person. Wells, acting as moderator, instructed Johnson to start talking about bowling and, when he clapped his hands, Johnson was to stop and a student — in this case Lyle Schumacher of Peetz — was to continue the monologue. The results, of course, were hilarious.
The WHO duo instructed students that, when collaborating in the sketches, it was important for them to listen, respect what the other person had just said, and try to make each other look good.
Aaron Bernhardt, president of the Peetz High School Student Council, said the event rotates among member schools, and student council officers and members from Peetz, Briggsdale, Weldon Valley, Prairie and Pawnee schools, along with Lone Star from the YWKC League, attended. Bernhardt said Fleming had planned to send a delegation but had to cancel because of student illnesses.