Sami Pendergast Benton

Benton High School JILG Report Volume 4 Issue 2

September 2008

LDC 2008: The first step to a successful Career Association. By: Hannah Bradshaw, Benton Jilg Reporter

The 2008 Leadership Development Conference is in the books and this year’s LDC was a huge hit with the officers from BCHS. They worked together The Benton High School Jilg Officer Team form L-R: Emily Eubanks, Megan Young, Sami Pendergast, Seth very well during the two day Brandon, Jenni Fofar and Hannah Bradshaw. event and learned what it really means to be a part of a team. Mr. Groves was very proud of the way these students performed. “It is nice to see a group of students come together like they did. I have been involved with Jilg for four years now and have seen a lot of good individual officers come through here, but I have never seen a group work as well together as this one did this week.” All of the students for all of the schools enjoyed the fun activities that were offered at LDC. They got to meet students from 16 different schools that attended this conference. They were also grouped up much of the time with students holding the same office. We attended workshops to help make us better officers, and were put in challenging situations where we were able to lead our team or be productive members of our group. Several of these activities took place outside on “The Ropes Course” which included suspended cables that we had to navigate as a team, ropes that we had to use to swing from spot to spot with obstacles in the middle, a twelve foot wall that our team had to get over, and several other challenging obstacles and problems. The evening of our first day there, we were treated to the inspirational teaching of Mr. Chuck Roach. Chuck is the president of (cont. on pg 2) 1

Benton High School JILG Report Volume 4 Issue 2

September 2008

Challenge Leadership Program. The four main pillars of his program were how to handle stress, risk taking, teamwork building, and how to reach your greatest potential. “Often the hardest part for students to grasp in life, is how to handle stress,” said Mr. Roach. That’s why he decided to incorporate stress related activities as one of his main goals in his programs. Another of the main focuses of his program is that he gets us involved in hands on activities. He gets us up and moving while presenting us with Above: Chuck Roach challenges to see how well we cope with them. was our motivational Mr. Roach has a lot of background experience in educaspeaker for the 2008 tion and working with teenagers. He went from being a princiLeadership Developpal in the biggest high school in Indiana to presenting his proment Conference. grams to schools and organizations all over the mid-west in seven different states. He said one reason for his switch of professions was that he was doing both when he first started this program, and not that this doesn't take up a lot of his time, but being a principal was more demanding with parents, students, and also the faculty with meeting all of their demands and needs. He couldn't do both and had to choose, so he chose to be a motivational speaker and now has been doing it for over twenty eight years and spoken to over seven hundred thousand kids from all over the country. Mr. Groves said that there have been several activities that normally occurred during the first evening of LDC. They were all very exciting and challenging for the students and the career specialists, but none can compare to the events that took place on this night. Not only was it very fun and exciting for everyone, but it was a great learning experience and it gave us a chance to come together as a team. On behalf of the 2008 Benton High School Jilg Officer Team, I would like to say thank you for a wonderful LDC. Right: Benton’s Officers participate in the “Come on Six” exercise that places a lot of stress on the students while putting them in a challenging situation.

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Benton High School JILG Report Volume 4 Issue 2

September 2008

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Benton High School JILG Report Volume 4 Issue 2

September 2008

Career Exploration Presentations Our first big project of the year is almost complete. The Career Exploration Presentations are very challenging to complete, take a lot of hard work, and can have a huge reward at the end. Mr. Groves challenged us to choose our “Dream Career” and research every aspect of it including education required, possible salaries, working conditions, locations, job outlook and possible benefits. After our research was complete we had to give a presentation about our chosen career in front of our classmates. Our presentation had to include proper dress, PowerPoint presentation and a guest speaker if we chose to “go the extra mile.” Several of our students did bring in a guest speaker and this is rewarding in several ways. It gives us the opportunity to hear from someone that actually does our “dream job” for a living, and it gives the other students in the class an opportunity to learn more about that career. The end result of this assignment is to help us to either make a solid choice on a future career, or rule something out. Some of the students completed the project, gave their presentation and decided that this wasn’t what they wanted to do after all. We look at this as appositive thing because we can now focus on something else, rather than learning this information after leaving Benton High School and starting college. The students enjoyed the presentations by their classmates and have really learned a lot along the way. 4

Benton High School JILG Report Volume 4 Issue 2

September 2008

T.J. Tomshack T.J has joined the United States Air Force. Sgt. Graves game to our class last month and has some things to say that really inspired T.J. to make this decision. He is an outstanding student, and is a good example for all future Jilg students to look up to. Not only is T.J. in Jilg, and headed to the Air Force, but he is also an outstanding wrestler here at Benton High School. He is eagerly awaiting the start of his Senior season and will be looking to qualify for the Sectional, and possibly State tournaments this year. Congratulations T.J. and we would like to wish you all the best.

I & I ceremony plans are in the works and committees have been formed. Students plan to “rock-n-roll” into their futures. Also we’ll highlight our guest speakers for October as well as Homecoming Week. All this and more in the October Edition of The Benton High School Jilg Report.

Coming Next Month…. 5