Monday, December 5 to Friday, December 9. Those five days will be forever ingrained in the memories of the 2023 Cobram Secondary College student leaders after they travelled to Sydney to learn leadership skills.
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The eight student leaders, accompanied by principal Kimberley Tempest and deputy principal Dianne Ferguson, travelled to Sydney to bond, cement their leadership skills and learn about communication techniques from the experts.
One of the major highlights for the students included visiting the Sunrise studios and getting a backstage look at how the popular morning show is produced.
They also got to meet presenters David Koch and Natalie Barr.
College captain Daniel Campbell described the experience as wonderful.
“He (Mr Koch) was really nice to talk to, really funny,” Daniel said.
Despite the unique opportunity to engage with Mr Koch and Ms Barr, Daniel’s highlight of the trip was the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb, which all the the students and staff completed.
“The way everyone worked together and bonded together, even when people were struggling to get up there, that was really great to see. Everyone working together to reach the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge,” Daniel said.
Daniel’s opinion of the bridge climb was shared by college vice-captain and Jordan house captain Zoe O’Toole.
“It was really good. It was a great opportunity to see like all the sights of Sydney and to learn the different ways that people struggle with heights and how to help them with that,” Zoe said.
Other highlights of the leadership retreat included an orienteering activity where students had to find their way across Sydney via public transport, a careers workshop with both Lendlease and the Australian Business and Community Network, and a night-time cruise on one of the famous Sydney ferries.
The group also enjoyed fish and chips on Bondi Beach and meeting some of the famous Bondi lifeguards.
Ms Tempest said that the retreat was carefully structured, with activities that emphasised team building, communication and putting the future leaders out of their comfort zone in order to learn about themselves.
“We did a lot of team building because this is a diverse group of students,” the principal said.
“They’re not all in the same friendship group ... Part of being a leader is getting outside of your comfort zone.”
As for the team building, Ms Tempest said the goal was successful.
“They went away as individuals, but they came back as a team,” she said.