With freshly made pancakes, eggs, and more, made by the Tracy Breakfast Lions Club, the District Leadership Conference was held at our school’s gymnasium all day on November 20th. The purpose of this meeting was for Leadership teachers and students, and public leaders in Tracy to share their knowledge, help each other improve in different areas of leadership, and work together as a community.

When asked how the Leadership students worked together to help each other, ASB President Senior Noah J. Watkins and ASB Vice President Senior Keila E. Molina explained how each school had a different workshop for the topic they were teaching. “It was helpful for each of our students to go there to see how each other school [managed their topic] so maybe we can implement some of that in our programs in different ways, (Molina)… Some examples of these topics were social media, decorations, clubs, etc.

Watkins mentioned two breakout sessions were held; one was student led, and the other was advisor led. “I can’t speak for the student led sessions because we led ours, but I know for the advisor ones it was very interactive,” (Watkins)… Talking as a group about someone’s questions and ideas and finding solutions to their problems was extremely helpful.

The Leadership teachers also got together and “were able to collaborate and… able to share knowledge and ideas…although we led it, West High led it,” (Behnam). Focusing on that last part, when I asked how our campus was chosen to host this Conference, Behnam responded, “…we fought tooth and nail for that… the need to make sure West also has representation in terms of showcasing… the beauty of our community.” Our school’s Leadership students put in so much work to show that by organizing the breakout sessions, reserving rooms, and tons of decorations like “…100 posters put up in the gym”, (Molina).

Public leaders from our District including Mayor Dan Aryola spoke during the Conference. Behnam said they helped motivate students, “…in terms of growth, in terms of what is leadership.” It inspired their futures. “…from a leadership aspect, it’s cool to see kind of what we can turn into potentially one day,” (Molina)…

Even though the schools have rivalries between each other, this Conference had teachers, students, and public leaders working together as a community. “…trying to learn from each other…in this day and age, it isn’t the most simple,” (Behnam). This event was successful through everyone’s effort. “…that’s the whole purpose of just living and leadership. You want to be part of something bigger than you,” (Behnam).