SMS student attends leadership seminar

Does missing a week of school, enhancing your leadership characteristics or having an awesome experience interest you? If the answer is “yes” and you’re a 7th or 8th grade student in Department of Defense Dependents Schools Europe, you should find out about a program called Junior Leadership Seminar from someone at your school.

Junior Leadership Seminar is a weeklong conference that teaches 7th and 8th grade students how to become better leaders. It takes place in Oberwesel, Germany, but invites representatives from schools all over Europe. I was one of the five students to go from my school (Sembach Middle School) this year.

When we got there, we started with some icebreakers and were assigned to our groups. Throughout the whole week we had group sessions where we spent time answering questions like what traits we looked for in a leader. We also went into more depth about concepts that we learned in the general sessions.

One of my overall favorite parts, though, was the free time. I spent some of it showing off my mad skills in ping-pong and billiards, but most of it I spent meeting new people and socializing with them. I am very glad I got the chance to go, and I know that I took a lot away from it that I am hoping to put to use back at my school.