#notaholiday

I suppose it is inevitable that if one is going to a conference in Florida in term time one will hear the phrase 'enjoy your holiday' once or twice before one leaves. But what have our intrepid students actually been up to since they arrived? TJV caught up with five of the six this morning.

 WHAT HAS INSPIRED YOU MOST SO FAR AND WHY?
HUGH: The leadership talk from Mike Weber was really interesting, especially as it was like the guy was preaching the gospel!
EMIL: It has inspired me a lot meeting so many new people across the globe, and getting to know different cultures is enjoyable and fun. I have been inspired by the speakers and the talks we were given during the conference. A large inspiration to me was to see that you can even be an entrepreneur at a very young age, if you believe in yourself and believe in your idea.
SHONA: The adventure trip out and the leadership talk have inspired me the most as it has made me see that everyone can be a leader and can persuade people to do a lot of things they usually wouldn't. The adventure day showed me the importance of teamwork and that no matter the situation you can normally get through it.
CHLOE: The service day has shown me how important it is to be able to give back to the community and it also taught us teamwork skills because we had to work together in order to clean up the beach without it taking too long. 
ANTHONY: The talk by the leader of Pencils of Promise, who had been building schools for those who do not have access to education, was really inspirational!

 SOUNDS LIKE YOU'VE ALL HAD A RANGE OF INSPIRATIONAL EXPERIENCES AND ESPECIALLY LEARNT THE VALUE OF WORKING WITH OTHER PEOPLE. WHO IS THE MOST INTERESTING PERSON YOU HAVE MET OR SEEN SO FAR?
HUGH: Danish is in my Baraza group : he is OBSESSED with cats and beyond, and he cried when I showed him a photo of my cat!
EMIL: Madeleine, because she was that girl who sticks out of the crowd, her smile enlightens even the darkest corners in the school. This was due to her engagement and willingness to change lives of the less fortunate people in this world.
SHONA: So far the most I interesting person I have met has been the lecturer from the leadership talk: he has shown me how easy it is to persuade people and how all it takes to be a leader is to be influential and believe in what you want.
CHLOE: For me it's also been the man who gave us a lecture on leadership because he interacted with us and he made the talk fun and interesting, and I feel that I listened the most to him because what he had to say was interesting.

 WHAT HAS THE CONFERENCE MADE YOU WANT TO GO OUT AND DO IN THE FUTURE?
HUGH: I was really inspired by the service trip, which opened my eyes to nature's need for maintenance.
EMIL: It has showed me that when you become an entrepreneur, you should not just focus on the success of the company, as this is only a product of the actions your business takes. Your business should be set out to help the people in the world. 
SHONA: it has made me in the future want to go out to meet more new people from different places and help those who are less fortunate then I am.
CHLOE: It's made me want to travel more and to go out and help other children who are less fortunate than me. 
ANTHONY: It has made me want to do a Round Square service project in the future and make a difference in the world.

GREAT TO KNOW THAT THE CONFERENCE SO FAR HAS MADE SUCH A DIFFERENCE TO YOU? BUT WERE THERE ANY ASPECTS THAT YOU FEEL COULD HAVE BEEN IMPROVED?
HUGH: The opening ceremony took nine thousand hours and, apart from the keynote, seemed slightly uninspiring.
EMIL: The long waiting times in the morning dragged on a bit, even though I had nice conversations.
SHONA: Some of the talks we have been in haven't been really engaging and loud so it is easy to lose interest. Also in the Baraza meetings not all the wave makers [the student leaders] know what they are talking about and so it becomes less interesting.
CHLOE: We've had a lot of lectures so far that aren't interactive and so they don't really capture our attention in the way that the speaker hoped, and since we're all very tired it makes it harder to concentrate. 
ANTHONY: The opening ceremony as a whole was very long and had lots of people speaking for half an hour saying the same thing as the person before them.

SO IT SEEMS OUR STUDENTS PREFER THE MORE INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS OF THE CONFERENCE BUT ARE MANAGING TO TAKE THE ROUGH WITH THE SMOOTH. GOOD LUCK FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK, GUYS!