COURTESY KEARSARGE REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
NEW LONDON – Superintendent Winfried Feneberg is pleased to announce that a group ofKearsarge Regional High School students are creating a new student organization after attending an ethical leadership conference in December.
On Monday, Dec. 17, 2018, a group of 25 Kearsarge High students in grades nine through 11 joined peers from six other New Hampshire high schools at a Students Practicing Ethical Leadership (SPEL) conference at St. Anselm College.
It was the first time Kearsarge students attended a SPEL conference.
At the conference, students networked with peers and participated in critical thinking, leadership, and communication activities. Students also had the ability to take part in a forum where they brainstormed initiatives to improve the student experience at their schools. During the forum, Kearsarge students discussed how they could increase student voice at Kearsarge Regional High School, the competency-based grading assessment model, ways to express their ideas other than through student government, and how they could hold a similar conference at their school.
“Ethical leadership is a valuable skill set for students to develop,” Feneberg said. “It’s wonderful to see that these students soaked in everything they could from this opportunity, and they’re working to share that experience with their peers.”
“The experience was invigorating, being able to see how other schools in the area have clubs to support the voice of their students,” said Julia Marquardt, grade 10. “It really opened my eyes to all the opportunities that are at our fingertips as students in the 21st century and how to make our dreams a reality.”
“After that conference, myself and many of my fellow students decided that we wanted something similar to give ourselves a voice that was going to be heard,” she added. “We want to create other opportunities that we saw in other schools where students are making changes in their school system. We hope that this club will pass and be a part of Kearsarge to give all students the opportunity to make our school a better place.”
This January, inspired by their experience at the conference, approximately 20 students are forming a new student group at Kearsarge High. The club will work to organize a similar conference at Kearsarge High. Souhegan High School and their Ethics Forum are assisting Kearsarge students as they start the club.
“SPEL was an excellent opportunity to expand our students’ interest in leadership,” said Curtis Roddy, a social studies teacher at Kearsarge High who supervised the conference trip. “The bus ride back to Kearsarge was electric. I have never seen students so interested in continuing the conversations that they had just been part of. I also have never seen students so galvanized to create something similar at Kearsarge to offer students in our area the opportunity to network and address issues that may face one school or many.”
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