STARS Conference
Becca (Grade 11 / Liberty High) Posted February 15 2007MAAP STARS is a competition-based event where students from alternate schools gather to compete in various events such as Team Audio/Video, Entrepreneurship, “LifeSmarts,” and much more. There are several gatherings throughout the year including the Fall Leadership Conference, Legislative Day, the Regional Conference, and the Spring Conference.
On the weekend of November 16th, five students from Liberty High joined hundreds of other students from alternate schools throughout Minnesota for the 14th Annual STARS Fall Leadership Conference. The 7 Project started the conference and did a great job. I really enjoyed the music before hand. The two guys that presented were awesome and their humor and enthusiasm was excellent. Their main focus was on decisions and choices. One of the video clips had an unraveling rope and how you can make good decisions to repair it. At the end of the presentation, the band played “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera. Listening to the woman’s beautiful voice and hearing the powerful words of the song truly struck me.
My favorite workshop session was with Derek Greenfield. He was so inspiring. It was great being able to sit down with the students from other schools and getting to know each other. Hearing the many stories of sobriety was encouraging. My favorite part was at the end when we were each given a yarn necklace. On the necklace there were little strings. We gave these strings to other people and told them something we liked about them. I really enjoyed hearing what people liked about me because it made me feel good.
We had several workshops that were very entertaining. I liked the GREAT Theatre — it was fun to be able to role-play and to become someone else. Our group worked really well together, but it was interesting when we would hit roadblocks. These were anything from a theme of the skit, a prop we needed to use, or a word we all needed to say during the performance. In the end, each of the groups performed their skit. This was very fun to watch. Everyone did a great job.
The conference concluded with the announcement of the new STARS officers that we had voted on the day before. Each of the candidates did a great job presenting and I think they will do very well as our new officers. Overall, the conference was a lot of fun and I look forward to competing in the STARS competitions this year!