Student Leadership Retreat 2011

Every year for the past three years, as a leadership coalition, we (Student Council, PACK, and Latinos in Action) head to Park City to have fun, discuss our fundamental purpose (mission and vision), and build capacity.

We began our retreat with a trip to Olympic Park. We had a great time and enjoyed the zip line and slide. We then returned the hotel and began breaking-down the THS student leadership mission statement: Inspire the one, Become one Timpanogos. The first part of the statement, “Inspire the One,” mean s that as leaders we have the responsibility to reach out and positively influence as many students as possible. We also felt it was critical to do the little things: lead by example, and make our interactions personal. The second part, “Become one Timpanogos,” means we all work to unify our student body.

We then proceeded to review our vision statement: We see a school where being a T-wolf is an honor, because students are valued for who they are, and where everyone is seen as someone. We envision Timpanogos with happy, united, involved, passionate, and successful students. We see a school where everyone is seen for who they are, as they are.

Former Miss Utah, Whitney Merrifield, then led us in an exercise called Challenge Day. Its purpose was to help us see the importance of breaking through barriers and stereotypes; encouraging us to be accepting and non-judgmental of all students

More leadership training continued which led us to the development of collective commitments that will guide our attitudes and behavior throughout the year. We came up with the following commitments:

1. We will not talk negatively. Respect
2. We will be sincere and humble in all our doings. Sincerity
3. We will be open-minded. Humility
4. We will acknowledge and respect others and their accomplishments. Compassion
5. We will recognize our mistakes and be responsible for our actions. Integrity
6. We will keep our commitments to each other. Loyalty
7. We will take initiative and not wait to be asked. Responsibility
8. We will be where we are supposed to be, when we’re supposed to be there, doing what we’re supposed to be doing. Reliability
9. We will make every day a great day to be a T-wolf! Honor

We concluded our retreat with our traditional leadership spirit bowl. We look forward to a great year as we plan activities and serve our peers.
Brandon Christensen – Student Body Publicity