Little known course develops Sydenham students develop leadership skills

Craig Bakay | Oct 25, 2019

When you think of phys. ed. at Sydenham High School, chances are your mind goes right to some of the great Golden Eagles football, basketball or volleyball teams of the past and present.

However, there is one program you probably don’t know about and one of the students involved would like to change that.

Reagan Asselstine is a Grade 11 student at SHS and she’s taking a Grade 12 course this year — the Recreational Leadership Program.

Unlike most for-credit courses, this one meets twice a week during the noon hour, because, as teacher Mark Richards says “that’s when we can get the most students participating.”

And, it’s also when many of the class practical activities take place.

You see, the leadership class is something like the student council but with a heavy phys. ed. focus.

They organize all the intermural sports, pep rallies, sports banquet and all the peripherals that involve sports.

And it’s a class.

“It’s mostly to acquire leadership skills,” Asselstine said. “We look into styles of leadership and what’s worked for others.”

“We look at past leaders and try to teach kids to tailor their leadership to what works best with the groups they’re working with,” said Richards.

For example, one of the events the group has organized was the Grade 9 Day in September.

“We wanted to help the newcomers at the school get to know each other and meet the leaders at our school,” Asselstine said. “And the best way to do that is to have some fun.

“We had the local fire department participate and had a lot of silly games.”

Asselstine said she’s already getting a lot out of the program.

“I definitely think now I want to work with people after school,” she said, adding that she’s leaning towards med school one day.

Richards said the program has been around for about 10 years and he’s glad to see kids showing “great organizational skills and a lot of initiative.”

For Asselstine, a big part of that is “getting the word out.”

“I’m sure a lot of kids weren’t aware of this course and we’re trying to get the word out about how awesome our school is and show everyone’s positive attitudes starting the school year again.”