Members of the 2023-24 Sun West Student Leadership Program at their first meeting on October 18, 2023.

The Sun West Student Leadership Program

Since 2007, Sun West has offered the Sun West Student Leadership Program. This program is open to students between Grades 8-12 and in the past, its two major functions were to organize the annual Sun West Student Leadership Conference and represent student views to the Sun West Board of Education. Each year there are often other leadership opportunities that are also available. Students who are interested are invited to attend a Student Leadership Seminar that is held in Rosetown near the beginning of the school year. At the seminar, attendees are introduced to the Sun West Student Leadership Program and participate in a number of leadership skill building activities. Learn more about the Seminar.

After the seminar, those that are interested, are invited to apply to become members of the Sun West Student Leadership Program and indicate what team they would like to be a part of. In the past, these have been:

• Team Sun West, which is responsible for the Sun West Student Leadership Conference; Learn more about past Leadership Conferences.
• The Youth Consultation Team, who gather student opinions on various issues and meet with the Board of Education about these issues.
• The Career Fair Team, who work with the Career Development Teacher Team to stage the ROADS TO SUCCESS Career Fair that Sun West holds every two years.

Based on the most recent recommendations to the Board of Education, the Sun West Student Leadership Program is planning on initiating a number of new activities. These will be:

• A web-based Student Leadership Guide.
• A traveling road show where Student Leadership Members will go to schools to promote involvement in student leadership.
• A method for students leaders in different schools to regularly communicate.

Students who are selected for the Student Leadership Program meet in Rosetown six times a year on days that correspond with School-Based Administrator (Principals and Vice-Principal) meetings. These are full-school-day meetings and the students are transported to the meetings by their Principals and Vice-Principals.

After the seminar there was an application process and 25 students who attended the Seminar joined either Team Sun West or the Youth Consultation Team. Team Sun West is responsible for organizing the annual Sun West Student Leadership Conference and the Youth Consultation Team represents student viewpoints and ideas to the Sun West Board of Education. Team Sun West and Youth Consultation Team meetings are held monthly until May where they will plan activities and where they will receive leadership training. Look for more announcements about their activities in the coming weeks.

History of the Sun West Student Leadership Program

The members of the first Board/Student Consultation Group, who recommended the creation of the Sun West Student Leadership Program. Each student represented one Sun West school that had a Grades 10-12 component in 2007.

In 2006, the Sun West Board of Education discussed that it wanted to get student input into its decision-making process. To make this happen, every Student Representative Council (SRC) or similar body in each Sun West school with a Grades 10-12 component was asked to select one student to represent them on a Board/Student Consultation Group. The representatives from these schools met several times in the 2006-07 school year and held meetings in their schools and conducted a survey of Sun West students to find out what issues students wanted brought to the Board of Education.

The first meeting between the Board of Education and the student representatives took place in May 2007, with the students bringing up a number of issues that were significant at the time, including recently introduced requirements that volunteer drivers have one million dollar liability insurance and all volunteers must have criminal record checks. This led to a fruitful and respectful conversation that provided the Board with the opportunity to explain the rationale behind these measures and led to greater understanding of these issues among the students and the wider community. The Board was very happy with the dialogue with the students and wanted continue meeting with the group in future years.

At the same first meeting with the Board, the students also recommended the creation of a Student Leadership Program and a Student Leadership Conference. The Board strongly supported this recommendation and this led in the following year to the establishment of Team Sun West as a sub-group within the Student/Board Consultation Group. Team Sun West organized the first Sun West Student Leadership Conference, which was hosted by Outlook High School, in April 2008. Also in that year, some members of Team Sun West volunteered to assist at the bi-annual Sun West ROADS TO SUCCESS Career Fair. This led in 2010 (Career Fairs being held every two years) to Career Fair becoming another project that the Sun West Student Leadership Program was heavily involved in.

There have been changes to the program over the last number of years, but since it's beginnings and continuing to this day, the Sun West Student Leadership Program has been strongly supported by the Board of Education. It provides excellent opportunities for students to both enhance their own leadership skills and make a difference within their school division and their communities.

Past Members of the Sun West Student Leadership Teams

2022-23 Youth Consultation Team

(Front: left to right) Lundyn Young (Elizabeth Middle School), Braelyn McBride (Elizabeth Middle School), Hailey Baroni (Biggar Central School 2000), Jan Nasibog (Rosetown Central High School), Darling McNeely (Dinsmore Composite School). (Back: left to right) Kameron John Baker (Eaton School), Jill Dobbin (Kindersley Composite School), Kalyse Trayhorne (Kindersley Composite School), Sierra Gardiner (Eston Composite School), Kennedy Tatomir (Eston Composite School) Jordyn Pederson (Outlook High School). Missing McKennah Baxter (Beechy School).

2022-23 Team Sun West

(Front: left to right) Ava Smith (Beechy), Anthony Santiago (Biggar Central School 2000), Emma Torrens (Kindersley Composite School), Macy McCullough (Kindersley Composite School), Karlee Preston Schwengler (Kindersley Composite School) (Back: left to right) Jayden St. John (Eston Composite School), Bella Baroni (Biggar Central School 2000), Farrah Low (Davidson School), Macy Norrish (Loreburn Central School), Vincent Yakimoski (Loreburn Central School), Syawlalliwi Ronquillo (Eaton School), Ainsley Beattie (Dinsmore Composite School), Josie Boisjoli (Elizabeth Middle School).

Highlight Videos

Click here to view the complete collection of Sun West Student Leadership videos on Sun West's YouTube Channel

On April 27, 2023, after three years, the Sun West Student Leadership Conference was finally again in-person. It attracted over 200 students, the largest number ever for an in-person conference.

On April 8, 2022, over 500 students participated in Sun West's second virtual Student Leadership Conference. The video above was produced by members of Team Sun West, the student leadership team that organized the conference.

On April 23, 2021, over 500 students participated in Sun West's first virtual Student Leadership Conference. The video above was produced by members of Team Sun West, the student leadership team that organized the conference.

A look back at the Sun West Student Leadership Program from 2007 to 2017.