DCI Student Leadership Conference
Student Leadership Conference
At Dulwich International High School Suzhou, one of our ambitions for our students is for them to become leaders who can make a positive difference in the world. In today’s ever-changing world, it is imperative that our student leaders are equipped with a skill set that enables them to be flexible, adaptable and unite people for positive change.
With the theme of “Lead Worldwise™”, our Student Leadership Conference this year aimed to equip our student leaders to do exactly that!
Thirty-four student leaders from nine of our schools – including our founding school in London – were engaged in stellar workshops, keynotes and seminars designed to enhance their capacity as Worldwise™ leaders who can inspire, lead, and make a positive difference in the world.
For the first time since its founding five years ago, it will be held in three parts within a blended environment. On 15/16 January, Head Students from all Dulwich schools around the world met online for the 5th annual DCI Student Leadership Conference. This event is normally held in person in Shanghai, but the ongoing pandemic forced a change to an online model this year. Our newly-minted Head Students shared their initial thoughts on the leadership training, networking, and personal growth they experienced.
"I am very grateful for this activity, it means a lot to me. This event provided me with a very good communication platform, and I got to know the excellent leaders of Dulwich from all over the world. The whole meeting was not as rigid as we expected. There were a lot of games and a lot of laughter. We each shared our leadership experiences and had in-depth conversations about what we could do to make our schools better. It seems that I travelled around the world in just eight hours. I went to various countries and felt the enthusiasm of classmates and teachers as well as their attention to this activity. I became more confident and was able to express what I wanted more effectively, and my expectations and requirements of myself became higher and higher."
——Xinyi J.
I benefited a lot from this meeting. I think this meeting has built a bridge of communication among many Dulwich schools. Students can share their experiences directly, and everyone can listen to each other's suggestions, so as to avoid some unnecessary troubles. From communication with other students, I learned many ways to deal with problems and how to develop a good attitude. For example, I should not be too ambitious at the beginning, break down big problems into small ones, and then deal with them one by one, step by step, so as to finally achieve my goal.
——Bruce D.
The three activities that impressed me the most were “Leadership styles”, “Storytelling” and “Iceberg”. In the “Leadership styles” activity, we learnt about five different leadership styles: Model, Inspire, Challenge, Enable and Encourage. We discussed with each other what kind of leadership style we would use to solve different dilemmas. In the “Storytelling” activity, each of us shared our own experience of either demonstrating leadership, helping others or a moment that we felt proud of and provided insights into other people’s experiences. In the “Iceberg” activity, we wrote down words that we thought could be used to define us and thought about which of them are the sides we usually show in front of others (the part of an iceberg which is above water) and which of them are the sides we usually hide (the part of an iceberg which is under the surface). This allows us to reflect and know ourselves better.
——Mandy L.
It was fantastic engaging with all the student leaders from other Dulwich schools over the two days. The conference not only set up an excellent platform for amazing thoughts but also strengthened the connections within the Dulwich family. Personally, by listening to the stories of others evolving after encountering setbacks and failures, I could truly sense the tough mindset within everyone’s heart and the exciting atmosphere we were creating. Apart from the sharing of leadership experiences, forming new friendships was a highlight of the conference. It was such a pleasure for me to meet interesting people such as Mondo and Antonin. I hope we can make more connections between our schools that will be of further benefit to everyone.