Students from HMS and HHS attend Friend to
Friend Conference at ESU.
On Monday, November 5, 22 middle school and high school students
and 6 faculty members attended the 2007 Friend to Friend Conference
at Emporia State University which was hosted by the Kansas School
Counselor Association.
The keynote speaker, Cody Burch, with Rachel’s Challenge
presented Rachel’s Legacy, Year 2.
Rachel’s Legacy, Year 2 further enables and motivates young
people to make a difference in their world. Rachel’s Legacy,
Year 2 builds on the foundation laid in Rachel’s Challenge which
was presented to all HMS and HHS students and faculty last February
in Herington. Rachel’s Legacy, Year 2 presented the following
challenges to the participants: Challenge 1: Choose to
Care; Challenge 2: Change the Water; Challenge 3:
Convert the hurt; Challenge 4: Be true to yourself and to
others; Challenge 5: Let go and Grow: Forgive yourself
and others.
After the keynote presentation, students and faculty members
attended several break-out sessions. These presentations
included ideas and activities to incorporate these five challenges
to bring about positive changes in our school atmosphere. Students
learned how to identify the leader in themselves and how to work
through conflicting personalities to build a better TEAM
environment. Furthermore, students were engaged in activities
that focused on what motivated themselves as well as others.
Students also gained insight into self awareness and how to help
themselves stand against peer pressure influences, and students
were asked to think about the connections they each make with
others and focused on how to expand these current connections as
well as creating new ones.
Last year as a result of Rachel’s Challenge, both the middle
school and the high school formed Friends of Rachel Groups.
The students who attended the Friend to Friend Conference plan to
take these ideas and share with the Friends of Rachel Groups in
hopes of creating an even more positive atmosphere at the middle
school and the high school.
