Sharing ideas through conference

Chantilly leadership classes host county leadership students for a day

 

Leadership sponsor Mike Austidillo and junior Chris Vaughn and Bryan Mattfield set up the technological elements of "Family Feud." Visiting leadership students go to experience Chantilly's take on the game during the conference. PHOTO BY SARAH HENSLEY

 

By Sarah Hensley
March 25, 2008

‘Got Leadership?’ was the theme of the Fairfax County Leadership Conference hosted by Chantilly leadership classes on April 11 in the lecture hall.

 

Seniors Beanca Nicholson, Michelle Lutkus, Mallory Safastaii and Kaylie Wallace were in charge of the event. Twelve schools from across the county and more than 100 people crowded together in the leadership room and the lecture hall.

 

“All of the girls did a really nice job organizing everything in a timely fashion and incorporating the rest of the class,” SGA sponsor Rebecca Campbell said. “Everybody pitched in when push came to shove.”

 

The purpose of the conference was to provide inspiration by exchanging ideas between other Student Government Association’s throughout the county as well as involving more people.

 

Chantilly students hosted a larger version of the Family Feud game, while each school represented a team to play.

 

“It actually went a lot better this time than it did when we did it for our school with the setup and decorations,” junior Jenna Shaw said.

 

Originally, Chantilly students were only supposed to host and not participate in the game, but because another team was needed students were able to play against other teams from across the county.

 

“I talked to some of my friends who go to other schools and they all talked about having one next year at their school, so I think it went well,” Shaw said. 

 

Former district attorney Roscoe Howard was invited as a guest speaker. He spoke to the group about what it meant to be a leader.

 

“We basically were just looking for a guest speaker,” Lutkus said. “He has a student here, so we thought that he was a good choice.”

 

Each school also presented an event that occurred at their schools.

 

“We will be brainstorming and idea swapping on how to lead events.” Michael Astudillo said. “Basically we are going to come up with ways to help each other out.”

 

Previously, Robinson High School hosted the conference but they decided to provide an opportunity to another school this year.  This was the first time since 2001 that Chantilly has hosted a leadership conference that includes the entire county.

 

“We got to be with everyone that was in leadership, so everyone was very positive,” junior Allison Morisato said. “I felt like it brought us together because we were all trying to help our school out. We all have the same purpose being in leadership, I think it helped us realize that every leadership group makes mistakes but we can recover from them.”

 

Moe’s Southern Buffet provided lunch while the activities continued throughout the conference.