Make Every Moment Count - 2022 Leadership Conference
Students arrived Sunday, November 19, 2022, to make their way to their hotel rooms and get comfortable. After claiming their rooms and dropping off their luggage, high schoolers made their way through the Crystal City tunnel toward outdoor eateries like Cold Stone and Chipotle. Unprepared for the drop in weather, everyone hurried back indoors after grabbing dinner.
After receiving their wristbands, t-shirts, and notebooks—students began visiting college promotional tables to learn more about Christian college opportunities and receive signatures on a treasure hunt card that would enter them into a drawing to win a MacBook Air or an Apple Watch. With the busyness of each day, SMCA students were unable to get their treasure hunt completed, but many of them won free t-shirts, stickers, and even $10 gift cards as they visited different college representatives.
The worship music before sessions truly prepared their hearts for the messages they heard from experienced speakers from across the country. The conference started strong with Dr. Bobby, pastor of The Heights church in District Heights, who used a wire hanger to explain why we ought to live out a life that aligns with who God designed us to be instead of twisting and distorting ourselves to be what others want us to be. Another favorite was Kathy Koch, the founder of Celebrate Kids, Inc., a speaker who encouraged the audience to question the lies they unconsciously believe through the overuse of technology. These dynamic speakers challenged the students!
Students had the opportunity at the end of each day to discuss the messages they’d heard. A personal favorite was night one—where students were responsible to choose four adjectives from provided lists that they believed represented themselves. After each individual narrowed down his or her own choices, peers got to hear and comment on the words chosen. Students got to be vulnerable with one another as they had to share qualities like strong, forgiving, moody, quiet, mature, picky, and obsessive. Following each word, students would get the chance to uplift one another—both warning of the potential pitfalls of some qualities and validating areas where they see positive qualities most evident. Self-reflection was huge. Rather than using this time to excuse poor behavior, students instead reassessed how God could use that quality best. This was such a unique opportunity for students to speak life into one another, and it really built trust as they moved forward with the conference.
Junior Jamie Bowie said, “It was truly such an honor and joy to be able to attend this year’s leadership conference. The worship, the messages, the discussions…it was all so memorable. The speakers delivered many note-worthy points, and I learned so much both as a leader and as an individual. The main takeaway that I pray anyone reading this will remember is that God has intentionally created every single one of us with a distinct purpose, and as Gian Paul Gonzalez said, we should be ‘all in’ for fulfilling whatever that purpose is for us. God has led me to be a leader at SMCA, and I cannot wait to fulfill the goal that my fellow leaders and I have made for His glory.”
Sophomore Josh Gilroy echoed the emphasis upon God designing us for a purpose by saying, “Specifically, we all have a purpose and no one can do our purpose better than we can. Another thing I learned was that we are really attached to technology, and we believe a lot of lies that it tells us. The main ways that technology can mislead us is that we deserve everything, we should be the center of attention, and we deserve choices. This can be very dangerous as it makes us entitled when we have no right to be.” Gilroy added, “On Monday we were fortunate to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This had a huge effect on me personally as I was able to see the atrocities that were committed during that time. The exhibit that stood out to me the most was the Shoe Room. The shoes belonged to people who were killed during the Holocaust. There were 4,500 shoes in the room. While that number may be small, those are actual shoes of actual people that were kept in good condition. Some of them were dress shoes which showed how they were deceived into thinking they were going to make a good life in the East. It was huge to talk to Allan Firestone, a Holocaust survivor. All of his family was killed except one sister, aunt, uncle and three cousins. Once he was liberated, he came to the United States where he enlisted in the army and served two years in Korea. Talking to Mr. Firestone gave me a wider outlook and a first hand account of the Holocaust.”
On our last day, students met again to discuss how to put their work into action. They have big visions to be unified and to make a difference at SMCA. Out of the many changes students want to make, the first sounds simple. Pray. Different student leaders will pray each day at the end of morning announcements. The unity this group of leaders shared at the conference they so desperately want all of the student body to experience, and that starts with prayer. So what’s the vision as they move forward? Their decision was unanimous—create culture. Have a student body that shares unity, passion and school spirit. And if anyone is going to do it, it’ll be this group of student leaders who will use their strengths and even their weaknesses. They’ll be strong, but vulnerable. Forgiving, but not passive. Sometimes moody, but connected to their emotion. Quiet when necessary, but vocal when it matters most. Mature, but willing to connect with younger students. Picky, but especially when it relates to what’s Biblical. Maybe even obsessive, but over their God-given passions—like creating a culture worth talking about.
-Katelyn Young