The Principal’s Multicultural Advisory Committee (PMAC) held a youth conference on November 2 to address stress and to hopefully teach students coping mechanisms that could be used to alleviate it. The conference was sponsored by Community Tampa Bay, who sent two members of their team to lead the lock-in along with the members of the Multicultural committee led by Renee Dragoutis.

Community Tampa Bay is an organization that has dedicated its time to promoting dialogue between young people, cultivating leaders, and changing communities. They do this by developing strong, inclusive leaders through dialogue and cross-cultural interaction.

The conference was a success as more than 30 people showed up, superseding the original goal of just 30 people. The Multicultural committee provided the students with breakfast and lunch, and created the schedule, with help from Community Tampa Bay.

“I really appreciate how this group of students were able to come together in a few weeks and collaborate in order to plan a whole day’s worth of activities for students to enjoy.  They were very mature throughout the whole process, and executed the activities with great confidence. Overall, I am very pleased with their results, and look forward to working with them on future projects,” said Dragoutis.

The youth leadership conference aimed to address three main types of stress; school stress, family stress, and social stress through a combination of playing games meant to emulate the three kinds of stress and then reflecting on how we dealt with those types of stressors. Sarah Hemani, a junior in IB, partook in the conference and shared her thoughts.

“My favorite part of the day was when we played Jenga, as the aspect of community focused on during the conference was enhanced through working together to balance the tower,” said Hemani.

By the end of the conference students were meant to feel empowered to lead inclusive change at their school so every student can feel safe, valued, and important. Michelle Uvieghara, a student in the medical program, also shared her thoughts about the conference.

“I was motivated to become a better leader by being pushed by other students to try my best and be open-minded to other ideas brought about,” said Uvieghara.

By providing students with coping mechanisms for stress, they left with a better understanding of themselves and with a support network of people that they can rely on when the stress of life becomes too great to handle alone.

You can reach their website at https://www.communitytampabay.org/