On March 13, 2023, LCPS hosted its first WILD Leadership Conference. This conference was designed for leaders of different student organizations such as SCA, NHS, DECA, sports teams, drama, FBLA, Key Club and more. The event was designed by LCPS extracurricular specialist Lin Fiscus, who wanted this event to be unique as well as to put a good first impression on those who attended. “WILD [stands for] we’re intentional about leadership development,” Fiscus said. “We’re trying to be intentional about helping student leaders grow their leadership abilities.”

LCPS’s first WILD Leadership Conference opened up with the “Amazing” Tei Street hyping up and thanking the audience for coming to the conference on a day off. After Street’s presentation, students went to the academic wing to either lead a session or attend another student’s session for 45 minutes. During these sessions, students spoke about their experiences with leadership and participated in various activities meant to demonstrate leadership skills. After this, the students who watched another student’s presentation instead led their own presentations, while the presenters during the first period viewed the new presentations. 

When presentations were concluded, students moved to the main gym to share ideas in circles of eight to ten students. Afterwards, half the students could participate in a series of carnival-style games in the main gym while the other half ate lunch. These two groups switched after 30 minutes.

Finally, the WILD Conference ended with six separate presentations on unique topics or issues student leaders could tackle. These sessions honed in on a certain topic, such as diversity in leadership, and showed students how they can approach these challenges or concepts with a different perspective and incorporate them into their own leadership skills.

In the main gym, students participate in carnival-style games designed to promote leadership involvement in small groups while students work together to win various games. The games were run by Student Council Association (SCA) members, and these games ranged from playing jump rope, using a fake elephant trunk to knock over a bottle, a celebrity quote trivia game and more. This section of the WILD conference was meant to be a time for students to unwind and relax, as well as be a reward for them coming to school on their day off.

Photo by: James Bowels

The “Amazing” Tei Street presents in front of a smaller group of students near the end of the WILD conference. At the end of the conference, students were able to choose one of six different presentations to attend that covered various issues or topics that student leaders are able to learn about. “What an amazing thing to do, to value student voice and student leadership,” Street said. “I always want to be a part of any school district that values student voice.”

Photo by: Rohan Iyer

Standing in a circle, Independence senior Anthony Paganin, juniors Maggie Miller and Eunice Makassi, and Loudoun Valley junior Logan Buckley share their ideas with the group about different topics and interests as student leaders. This idea sharing section of the WILD conference happened directly after the breakout sessions and gave students a chance to connect with other student leaders and learn how they’re tackling important interests to them at their school. “Students have stepped up to be presenters in all the breakout sessions, so they’re showing their leadership by teaching others about something they’re passionate about or that they’re knowledgeable about,” extracurricular specialist Lin Fiscus said.

Photo by: Rohan Iyer

Students from another school in Loudoun County present project ideas and guidelines for aspiring leaders in LCPS. After the “Amazing” Tei Street opened up the WILD conference, students broke off into multiple breakout sessions that were separated into two parts to account for the amount of presentations. Students were either able to watch a presentation or present a topic themselves for other student leaders to attend.

Photo by: Rohan Iyer

Students from Loudoun Valley present leadership activities to a group of watchers. The WILD conference wanted student leaders to have the freedom to share topics and issues important to them with both students from their school, and students from other corners of the county. “[Another] way [for student leaders to grow] is for students to attend [and] to hear the speakers and go to the presentations and learn stuff that they can apply at their schools,” extracurricular specialist Lin Fiscus said.

Photo by: Rohan Iyer