Student Council Workshop - By Kayla Dvorak

Student Council Workshop

by Kayla Dvorak    

     At the closing of my sophomore year, my Student Council advisor asked all the council members if we wanted forms for the Student Council Workshop in Emporia that takes place each summer. Having heard of the camp before, my interest was piqued. So, I took the forms, thought it over, and ultimately decided to go. Concordia High School had sent delegates to the workshop before, but at that time, nobody had gone in several years. I came to find out that our school’s absence from the workshop was a shame, because it was one of the best things I’ve ever experienced. One person from our school who has been a consistent workshop goer for the last twenty some  years is Ken Meyer, one of the high school guidance counselors. Needless to say, after hearing Mr. Meyer speak so highly of the workshop, I was extremely eager to go myself. One other council member went with me, Braden Johnson, who was elected to be Student Council Executive President the following year. We sent in our forms, took the time off at work, and excitedly waited for July 19th.

    I’ll give you a play by play of what happens when you arrive at the workshop. When your car pulls up, the “JCs” or “junior counselors”- students who just graduated high school- wait for a safe opening, then sprint to your car and rip the door open. After tearing you out of the car, they grab your luggage and ask your name. They then set the tone for the entire week by screaming your name in a spirited mantra they’ve used for every single other delegate, “Kayla! Kayla! Kayla Kayla Kayla!!”

    After I was hurried inside by the JCs, I was given a room key and a name tag and was instructed to take my things to my room and come back downstairs IMMEDIATELY (!!!). Everything about the place was extremely high energy mind you. Once back downstairs I was guided through a tour of the building we’d be spending the week in. The end of the tour led us to a ballroom full of teenagers wildly running around, shouting and flinging around pieces of paper. I soon found out that this was a mixer, and they were doing a scavenger hunt. The object was to fill your entire sheet with signatures. The sheet was full of boxes that had whimsical statements or orders like, “has fallen asleep in a movie that they paid to see” or “run around the room, arms locked, with another delegate singing the intro to your favorite TV show.” After our sheets were filled, we played a few silly games, and then were ushered into yet another massive room, this one filled with chairs and a stage. This room would become very familiar to everyone attending the workshop. We spent a huge chunk of our time in there in what was called “general session.” General session was devoted to any and all things that involved all the delegates. While I took a seat, along with three-hundred-some other delegates, an energetic blonde man took to the stage. He introduced himself as David Cherry, Assistant Executive Director of KSHSAA, and welcomed us to the Emporia campus for what would be the best week of our summer and the most significant learning experience of our lives.

    There rest of the week was a whirlwind of activity. Immediately following David’s welcoming, we were sent to meet the rest of our “council.” Each council was composed of about twenty delegates, a JC, and an SC (senior counselor) and was named by a letter A-P. I was in Council N. Somehow, between oodles of fun and educational leadership exercises, the wonderful directors of the workshop managed to find timeslots to cram in separate council meetings every day. For that reason, each council was appointed a meeting room. In that first meeting, we all introduced ourselves and played some icebreaker games, not that we really needed them. That’s the best part of the camp. Every delegate is high energy, sociable, and loves StuCo.     

Despite the fact that the councils didn’t associate with each other much, we all became friends immediately and everywhere you turned was a familiar, friendly face. Some people, including me, started out with a goal to sit next to someone they hadn’t spoken to yet every meal, which was an easy goal to achieve. I, however, let go of that goal about three days in because I wanted to spend quality time with my council. Delegates within a council grow extremely close throughout the workshop.

    Sunday was devoted to settling in and getting introduced to the campus, your council, and just the workshop in general. Monday was filled with more general session and council meetings. Every day of the week had some big event, and on Monday, that event was the Indoor Olympics. Every single delegate was given a t-shirt, which were different colors for each council. Council N had stone blue. We paraded to a gym on the Emporia campus and spent several hours competing against other teams in intense team-building activities. I can honestly say that during the Olympics, I was the most pumped up, happy, and competitive that I've ever been.

    We woke up sore from the Olympics on Tuesday and had more general session and council meetings, and the big event was the Sunflower Derby. The Sunflower Derby was actually kind of awful. It was incredibly educational and useful, but still awful. It was basically a huge scavenger hunt. One in which we had to find things and do tasks. Keep in mind, this was mid-July. Try to picture 300+ sweaty, frustrated teenagers racing around a college campus, building human pyramids and playing an odd version of Jeopardy as fast as they could. Lots of friendships were tested that day, and I think that's the point of the whole activity. The hardest part of the event was that everyone there was a leader and wanted to take control, and that resulted in a lot of disagreements and mistakes.

    By far, the best thing at Student Council Workshop is “Voices in the Hall.” Council A&P, the advanced council, puts together the production every year. My second year at workshop, I had the privilege to be involved and it was amazing. A&P works together to compile a list of types of students that they feel are misunderstood at their schools. About twenty members of A&P write testimonies for these made up people, and become their “voices.” Then, on Wednesday during general session, all of the lights are turned off and the entire workshop listens to A&P read the stories. The readers stand at the back of the room so nobody can see them, and they use a microphone. My first year, it was a very emotional experience. It gives you a look into the mind of students at your school that you otherwise wouldn't get. As student council representatives, it's our job to understand and accept every student and their struggles. To be a part of it my second year meant a great deal to me. I was the voice of the foster kid. “Voices in the Hall” takes place in the morning, and sets a solemn mood for the day. While the workshop is meant to be a fun and energetic learning experience, the directors also made sure to give us some time for deeper reflection, and it was a great thing. You learn a lot about yourself as a leader and as a person at the workshop, and it is necessary to do some thinking while there. Also on Thursday fell one of the most important general sessions of all, the one when we learned about Dr. Earl Reum. Dr. Earl Reum is the reason the workshop exists, and he was an incredible person. I wish I could recount everything I learned about him, but this blog is already long enough, so I'll just leave a link for any readers who are interested so they can learn about him.

    Friday is spent preparing for the banquet. The banquet is kind of a last hurrah at the end of the workshop. Each council is assigned a table at the banquet. They spent the day making decorations and preparing the table. Some of the other kids in the council will work on the presentation that will happen later Friday night, and some others will create a banner out of felt material, glue, and any other craft materials they need. The presentation, the banner, and the decorations all tie into a theme that the council comes up with. Through the presentations, each council presents a “gift’ to the workshop. Just kind of a message to leave them with. Also during the presentations, the JCs and SCs hang up the banner on a large sheet. By the end of the night, the sheet is a huge quilt of banners. They make one every year and hang them in the huge room used for general session.

    On Saturday, everyone wakes up, packs, and prepares to cry their eyes out for a few hours. It’s very emotional saying goodbye to the camp and to the friends you’ve made over the last week. Throughout the morning everyone does activities and the councils meet to say goodbyes. By noon, everyone leaves, taking with them the memories of the week and all the lessons they’ve learned.

    I’ve been to the workshop twice, and I could recount every single detail, but that would take a while. I know that I’ve missed a lot of things in this blog, so odds are I’ll end up writing another one to cover the things I’ve missed, because there are so many important things. It was, after all, the most significant learning experience of my life.