Recently, the Seneca Valley Intermediate Student Council attended the Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils “Decades of Leadership” State Conference.

The conference commenced Thursday, November 10 at Deer Lakes High School and concluded Saturday, November 12. Over 1000 delegates from more than 150 schools across the state attended the conference.

At the conference, delegates went to workshops led by fellow students and listened to public speakers to learn more about leadership.  Speakers at the conference, Cara Filler, Eddie Slowikowski, and Ian Rosenberger, all had interesting and inspiring stories to share with the delegates, ranging from traveling to Haiti for charity, being an NCAA All-American athlete, and discussing the importance of everyday choices.

Seneca Valley students that attended the conference included Katie Adams, Ben Hess, Ally Cowell, Emma Choban, Grace Connors, Madi Critchlow, Lauren Testa, Jemima Roeckman Brooke Raschke, Morgan Wehr, Emly Tekelenberg, Angelina Dragovits, Kaylee Franklin, and Jake Ring.

Sophomore Katie Adams described the lessons from the conference being focused in leadership, individual relationships, and not caring about what other people think.  “We talked about leadership a lot,” Adams said. “We focused on the small changes someone could make instead of focusing on changing the whole world.”

In order to make positive changes in the world, delegates were introduced to numerous local and worldwide charities.  A highlighted charity was “Team Tassy,” founded by Ian Rosenberger to help eliminate poverty in Haiti.  Rosenberger was inspired to start his organization after meeting a man, Tassy Filsaime, in Haiti in need of a life-saving surgery to remove a tumor from his face.  Rosenberger helped bring Tassy to Pittsburgh to receive treatment for the tumor and was determined to continue helping those stuck in poverty.

Along with the character building activities and leadership development, conference attendees were able to have fun and meet new people from across the state.  Delegates attended a banquet and dance on the final night to commemorate the achievements and performances at the conference, as well as interact with fellow student council members.

“My favorite part was probably getting closer with my council.  It was also really fun to meet new people because everyone was nice.  Also, the dance was so much fun,” Adams said.

After returning from the conference, Seneca Valley student council members plan to implement the knowledge they learned from the conference back into the school.  Hopefully, SV will be seeing the positive, motivating effects of the PASC State Conference in the near future.