This week at WLC has truly changed my life. It was unlike any of the conferences I have ever been too. I made a ton of more friends because everyone there came for the same reasons. We came to WLC to make long lasting friendships, build our leadership skills, and to make a change in this world. For these reasons, I think all of us connected more than other conferences where I had made some friends but not nearly as many as this trip. My roommates became some of my new best friends even though I had only knew them for five days. Another thing about this conference that made it stand out was how we looked at the bigger picture. We didn’t just focus on our own small problems, but we also came together to discuss the difficulties our world is facing. We learned how to take a big picture and break it down piece by piece. We started out as one giant conference, then we broke it down to community groups made of about 30 or less. Eventually we made it all the way down to ourselves by coming up with our own Living to Serve plan. For this plan we take our passions and strengths and design a plan to fight for some type of cause. There was a giant variety of LTS plans some involving help for families who have faced addiction problems, soup kitchens in communities, volunteering at shelters for abused animals, or even designing a fundraiser for cancer patients. My LTS plan is to have a chicken dinner fundraiser for money for orphanages in Uganda to use to buy their own chickens. Everyone’s Living to Serve plan was different and hopefully everyone’s plan will become reality at some point. This trip to the Washington Leadership Conference increased my confidence, built long-lasting relationships with people I may never would have met, opened up doors to new opportunities, and created a light for future FFA members.
Posted onJune 26, 2017Leave a commenton Reflections from LizEdit
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It is now the end of WLC week, and I can say it has been a once in a life time opportunity. From not wanting to go to not wanting to leave, I’ve experienced it all. First I was dreading going there but by the end of the conference I have made life long friendships. I’ve met people from five different states and have experienced sights that most people may never see. During the conference we made LTS plans or Living To Serve plans. My plan tackled the problem of children not having access to education. It will be a school supply fundraiser. If anyone has extra notebooks or pens & pencils, you would drop it off in a donation bin. Then the school supplies would go to schools that don’t have access to buying these school supplies or families that are less fortunate. This would help students have a chance at a more equal education. Overall the conference was one of the best leadership conferences I’ve been too, and it has helped me be more comfortable in making new friends. I would recommend this conference to all of my friends.
Today we were able to sleep in longer than usual, having to be at breakfast at 8:25. After breakfast we immediately dove into the service project put on by WLC. There we packaged meals for families in poverty. By the end of it we packaged a total of 61,056 meals! This was an extremely fun event and didn’t seem like work at all because we would sing different songs while working and cheer every time we loaded a whole box. After the service project, we boarded the metro for our free time. Ben and Liz, accompanied by Haili Gusa from Ubly, toured D.C. Their first stop was the White House, and with Ben leading the way, we ended up in the back of the White House; which made for a great picture. Then afterwards we headed to The Natural History Museum which is apart of the Smithsonian. There we saw different gems, history, and animals. Then we headed to The Air and Space Museum. There we saw different air crafts and space history. After that we decided to walk around street vendors. After walking for thirty minutes we ended up by the capitol. Then in a rush we had to head to the meeting spot, it was only 1.5 miles away but it took us thirty minutes to get back. After running down some side streets and maneuvering ourselves through traffic, we finally arrived at the knick of time to our meeting space. We then boarded the metro and went back for dinner. After dinner we reflected on what happened this week and we sadly reached the end of WLC.
– Ben & Liz Being able to sleeping in slightly longer than the past few days, we awoke ready to go and visit the Newseum in D.C. The Newseum was full of truly inspiring exhibits that left a mark on our hearts. We started on the sixth floor which included a balcony with an overlook of Washington D.C. On that floor, we also viewed exhibits highlighting famous rock artists who use their fame to voice out opinions on politics. The floor also included some of most popular newspapers and the machines in which they were made on. Working our way down, we viewed the Time Warner World News exhibit which displayed a map of the world showing different countries’ press freedoms. The showcase also included a memorial for all of the journalists who lost their lives for a story. One of the most impactful exhibits was a collection of Pulitzer Prize-Winning photographs all with descriptions of what makes the picture truly inspiring. Many of these photographers risk their life just for a picture to show the world what is happening in some areas. Another exhibit that touched all of our hearts was the 9/11 display. The showcase not only had quotes from survivors and newspaper headlines, but also items from the disaster. The Newseum many more exhibits involving the FBI, CNN News, civil rights, a TV and radio Gallery, and even a display of the Berlin Wall. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel in order to continue our work on our Living to Serve plan. All of the members of WLC have been working on these plans we individually came up with focusing on how we can use our passions and strengths to fix a specific cause we think is in need of help. Today we learned about advocacy and how we must apply it to our LTS plans in order to get it done. We now know we cannot just dream, but we have to go out and get something done instead of sitting back and watching.
Today we woke up bright and early to travel to our nations capitol. After breakfast we boarded the metro to head to the capitol. After about an hour and a half in the metro we finally made it to the capitol. We first decided to go and try to get a tour of the capitol, but after finding out we had about a hour and a half wait time we decided to venture on our own. We first explored emancipation hall in the capitol visitor center. There we saw how the capitol grounds have developed over the years. Next we traveled to the library of congress. There we saw amazing artifacts from the early Americas and earlier. Then we headed downstairs to get our library cards. When we headed down there we found out that you don’t get the library cards in the library but the Madison building. Strange! We then started venturing through the underground tunnels that connect all the building to get there. After traveling down a few sketchy hallways we made it to the Madison building. Our next task was finding room 140, us being us we first go to the 6th floor. Turn out that the rooms up there are in the 600s… who would have guessed? We then headed to the first floor and found the room. After presenting our ID and filling out the registration forms we got our library of congress library card. We then headed back to the hotel. There we started our sessions on diversity. We tackled issues such as racism, as well as diversity in agriculture. We then headed down stairs for dinner. Dinner was different tonight, because it was a hunger dinner. The way it worked is you were split up by class: upper, middle, and lower class. Over 50% were in the lower class; both of us were in the lower class. During this time we did not receive any food, which was a huge challenge. Then after an hour of talking about the issue while the others ate, we were given actual food. This topic hit hard for many people on how we are not thankful for what food we are given and need to be more thankful about it. This was a huge eye opener for many people and really changed everyone. We then had our final session of the night, where we wrote letters to our selves that will be sent home to us through the mail a year later. We were then given a key that symbolized our group leaders believing in us unlocking our potential. Overall today was an impact day and has really changed everyone for the better. Now we have the hunger to end the issue of people going to bed hungry.
– Ben & Liz We started the morning off visiting the Arlington Cemetery where we quietly viewed thousand of fallen soldiers’ graves. While there, we also had the opportunity to view the exchange of guards who protect the grave of the unknown soldiers. After going back to the hotel for lunch we went into our groups to focus on today’s objective – purpose. We brainstormed ideas on how to use our strengths and passions to find a solution for some type of challenge in our world or community. We also toured many monuments including the Lincoln Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the Washington monument. All of these monuments and memorials relate back to the theme of the day -purpose- because of the brace soldiers who gave their life to our country.
-Liz & Ben Today we woke up bright and early in Gettysburg at 7:00am. We stopped and was served breakfast and then we took a tour of Gettysburg. After the war, monuments were put up to honor each state and thier men who fought in the battle. Then after touring the battle grounds we arrived at the museum and watched a movie about the battle. We then departed for D.C. One major nerve about this trip was being paired with random people in the rooms. Turns out besides our state or city we have a lot in common. We then journeyed on to our first two sessions. These sessions were based on being our selves and learning how to live to serve. We then ended the night reflecting on what we learned and preparing for tomorrow’s adventure.
– Ben & Liz. Ben Zaleski and Liz Trudeau were chosen to embark on a six-day journey to the Washington Leadership Conference in Washington D.C. While there, they will meet other FFA members from all over the United States, visit many cemeteries and monuments, be engaged in leadership workshops, and bring back new ideas and skills to our school and community. We will continue to update the blog throughout the week.
-Liz and Ben |
The UpdatesEach week there will be a new post to the blog, that will highlight our students and there projects. It will also give weekly announcements. Archives
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