What is the Student Leadership Summit?

Hosted by Calvert School in Baltimore, the Student Leadership Summit is a day of activities, workshops and presentations where student leaders from the region come together to share their success with leadership at their schools. Although more than ten schools attended, Severn was one of three that led student workshops. The schedule included:

• Keynote speaker Mr. Leon Pinkett III Baltimore City Councilman, District 7
• Student led group design thinking activity
• Student led workshops on leadership and empowerment
• Student led school action planning session

Severn's Student-led Workshop: Collaborative Drawing

Our group of student leaders used their experience in organizing Middle School Community Life Day to prepare for their workshop. They chose to share one of the most successful activities from Community Life Day, collaborative drawing.

After presenting their thinking behind the activity, our leaders provided each group a large piece of paper divided into sections. Every group member drew a logo or symbol based on statements like “To me, empowerment means” and “Empowerment in my environment looks like.” They then shared their ideas and discussed each person’s perspective.

This activity allowed each group member to have a voice and to communicate in a creative way. By creating an activity where each person’s voice is valued, our Middle School students modeled one strategy of inclusive leadership that has worked in our community.

Daniel Berlin ‘22 shares his ideas on the workshop,

“In this activity everyone leads fairly and everyone’s opinions matter. Each person has their own job, but they all have the same amount of power in the group.”

The Best Leaders Know When to Follow

Sharing their experience in leadership at Severn with other students from around the region was a powerful experience for our Middle School leadership group. We as a community intentionally work to create a culture where every student feels empowered and valued. During this event, our students learned how other schools work toward positive change in their communities.

Emma Hlousek ‘22 shares her experience,

“I definitely liked the teaching part and getting to see how different each group thought. Now I see inclusive leadership differently because I got to look at examples of it outside my community.”

Fiona Griesser ‘22 reflects on her takeaways from the summit,

“Inclusive leadership means listening to everyone’s ideas but then stepping back and letting others lead — to not just be the one to lead but the one to follow. Because you have to listen too and you can learn things from people.”

Taking part in events like this is an important part of cultivating leadership in our students. The summit gave them the chance to share the great leadership experiences they have at Severn, and also collaborate with and learn from students from other schools. This experience broadens their perspectives and nurtures a sense of ownership and pride over their roles as leaders in our community. Click here to learn more about other student leadership opportunities in our Middle School.