Leadership class gears up for Disneyland conference

The Leadership class will take an annual field trip to Disneyland in January.

For the past three years, ASB has taken a trip in late January to a leadership conference in Disneyland for class officers and commissioners. There, students observed Disneyland employees and how they incorporate different forms of leadership into their daily jobs, along with meeting students with similar roles at other schools.

Along with 19 other ASB officers and commissioners, senior Megana Saripella attended a leadership conference last year at Disneyland.

“I liked that we as a leadership group got time to bond,” Saripella said. “We also got to interact with other leadership students from across the country to get some new ideas.”

This year, the newly instated Leadership class is inviting all students — whether they’re in the class or now — to apply for the conference, partly because not enough Leadership students signed up for it this year and partly because the conference went successfully last year.

“ASB saw a lot of benefit in the activities at Disneyland leadership, and they felt it was a really good opportunity to come together as a leadership team,” activities director Matt Torrens said.

The trip will cost each student around $550, including travel, hotel and fees. ASB has also been considering paying a portion of every person’s fee to make it more affordable.

Junior Connor Reyes was one of the earliest students to sign up for the trip. He had heard about it through a post on Facebook and applied after a friend urged him to.

“I decided to apply because I was originally planning on running for class office last year but then decided against it,” Reyes said. “Even though I didn’t get to be a part of Leadership, I thought it would still be fun to go on the trip.”

Of the 29 students participating in the trip, five of them are not members of the Leadership class.

“I want the students to be able to learn how to collaborate with other people outside their immediate leadership circle,” Torrens said. “And I want them to have fun and learn how to enjoy being a leader.”