On Tuesday, the 18th of June, Mia Cable, Avni Batri, Mauosamoa Fatialofa, and Jethro Melville attended a gathering of prefects from around Otago at Otago Girls High School in Dunedin. They listened to two guest speakers who were previously head students at their high schools in 2020, talking about their experiences as head students and how the role has and will continue to benefit their lives. The students found the speeches inspiring, and motivational in improving their roles as student leaders within our school. 

After the speeches, the students were split into groups to do fun activities to get to know other prefects in the Otago region. One of their group’s activities was answering questions about what the student leadership team has done within the school so far this year and what we would like to do. The students found it very interesting to hear about what the leadership teams at other schools are doing, it gave them a few ideas of what they could be doing throughout our school to improve our own school environment. 

Their takeaways were:

Mia - ‘Rely on the team, don’t try and do everything yourself.‘

Avni - ‘The connections you make with other people as a leader go far more than your achievements.‘ 

Mauosamoa - ‘Prefects need to be visible around the school. It’s not just a title, it’s a leadership role to help others.‘

Jethro - ‘Being a prefect means more than the title.‘