Learning Leaders

Theodore Zimmer, President of StuCo  

It was the first full week of school and all high school students were back. StuCo (Student Council) had finished up their elections during the final semester of last year, and they began to come up with ideas of activities that they could introduce to the high school for the new school year.  Seniors and juniors finished up their elections last week, and the new Dorm Council members had finally been chosen. With all the members accounted for, these leaders loaded up and went to Lost Paradise on Thursday, August 4th, 2017; the Leadership Retreat was finally on its way.

We arrived around 3:40 p.m, right after school, and received our room assignments. The women went one way and the men another. We men were placed in the two rooms above the conference room, while the women were a little bit more spread out.

After room assignments, we were allotted free time till 6:00pm. Most of us young men went swimming while the woman chit chatted. In the pool, we wrestled and played Marco-Polo. The pool was a blast, even Mr. Allen (StuCo sponsor) and Mr. Ronning (Senior Class sponsor) hopped in. We then saw how far we could swim with one precious breath. Sam Castro (11) ended up winning with the help of his long appendages.

We then had to go get some chow. As we were waiting, Grace Chang (12), Riley Phillips (10), Yigal Ang (12), and I, Theodore Zimmer (12), had an unexpected visitor—a little Chinese boy who decided to eat with us. He was a handful, but it was worth trying to get his name and age. He spoke broken English and Bahasa Malaysian, making it hard to communicate. Hopefully, we left a good impression in this young whipper snapper’s heart.

After eating chicken, rice, and fruits, we headed inside to begin our first lesson, led by Mr. Ronzheimer. It was about who we are a big influence to and who we think we will leave the biggest impact on. As StuCo president and male dorm representative for Zeimer Dorm, I had a lot of opinions. I think I will leave a big impact on the school being a well-known senior; however, I think my biggest impact will be within the dorms. We a are a small close knitted community and, being the older one now, I have to step up and be a good role model.

When the session was completed we broke up into our groups, Senior ExComm (Executive Committee), Junior ExComm, StuCo, and Dorm representatives. I stayed with StuCo and talked about why we joined StuCo. We all said we wanted to serve our great classmates and school. The biggest thing I wanted to instill into my team was that it’s okay to want this on your high school transcript, but it should not be your only or main reason; one should serve because he or she wants to, not because it makes him or her look better.

The next day our groups split up and did our own activities for group bonding. StuCo and Dorm Council rode on the Hop-On Hop-Off bus and got massages or Starbucks. The seniors went batiking and to tea, while the juniors had a buffet lunch together.  

We then all assembled for our last sessions with Mrs. Allen and Mr. Brewster. We read through Scripture and a few stories that helped show leadership, and we wrote down points that we thought were useful. We then gathered with our groups for one final meeting.

After StuCo finished filming an introduction video, and the other groups finished with what they were doing, we all piled into the vans and returned to school. It was a good day off of school to learn how to improve our leadership abilities. I know Dalat produces fine leaders and will continue to mold them.