Student Leaders Attend 3-Day Boot Camp

Student leaders line up before participating in a training exercise in early September.

This year marked the beginning of a new training program required of all student leaders. Every student leader arrived on campus early to participate in three days of intensive leadership training. This included dorm proctors, sacristans, members of the Inter-Faith Council, day proctors, lead ambassadors and the Sixth Form Council. The program was led by Mr. Dellorco along with Mrs. Garcia-LaVigne and Ms. Willman and others.

The training consisted of group bonding activities, as well as learning leadership tools and topics, such as the importance and value of service leadership, how to build community, public speaking, and strategies for having difficult conversations.

A large part of the weekend also allowed time for the group to reflect on the great aspects of Canterbury as well as areas where the school and student culture has the opportunity to become even better.

“We wanted to give our student leaders an opportunity to reflect on what is important to them as a Canterbury community,” said Mr. Dellorco. “Our intention was to have leaders come into this year with a plan of what they wanted to accomplish as a group.”

Pushing students to think about the year ahead, and focusing on goals, was a big part of the training exercises.

“We were able to focus our vision, not just for our class, but the whole community for this year,” said Eli Taylor ’19.

Day student proctor Sara Stone said, “Going over situations and leadership tools helped give us confidence to be better leaders.”

As student leader training becomes an annual tradition, the program will be able to build on its strong start.

“For me, one of the most memorable parts of the weekend was realizing that nearly all the students who attended had similar goals for this year,” said Mr. Dellorco. “To be a part of helping to continue to make Canterbury and the student culture great. It was truly a privilege for all the adults involved to work with the group for three full and meaningful days.”