By Sami Hodges – Loveland, Colorado… Campion Academy student leaders joined peers from Mid-American Union for the annual spiritual conference aimed toward improving their leadership skills by discovering their personal gifts.

The meetings, with class presidents and spiritual vice-presidents invited to participate, are normally hosted at an academy in the Mid-American Union; however, due to coronavirus restrictions, the conference was held September 10 through September 12 online.

The focus of the gathering was to help the student officers discover their spiritual gifts and learn more about their personalities and passions.

“The leadership conference helped me as a leader as I was able to find ways to communicate with my school, especially with the other leaders,” Abby Waworoendeng, Campion freshman class president, said. “I was able to grow closer relationships with them and work to make our school the best it can be.”

Short icebreaker activities and trivia games kicked off the event, followed by worship talks from Benjamin Lundquist, Oregon Conference Young Adult Director, using examples from the Bible to highlight leadership qualities. Friday night vespers and Sabbath worship was led by Rocky Mountain Conference Associate Youth Director Jessyka Dooley, who talked about the story of Esther.

During the meetings, participants watched presentations about styles of leadership, ways to utilize their passions and formulate their goals for campus ministry.

The academies were assigned the task of developing and presenting their goals for the year, and then discussing their plan on its implementation into daily life.

“All the different schools have different ways of being leaders, but at the end of the day, you could tell that God was the one leading them and their academies,” Milka Mendoza-Sanchez, Campion senior class president and student chaplain, said. “It felt really nice to come together as leaders at Campion and discuss how to improve as a school and make our campus better.”

–Sami Hodges is a senior at Campion Academy; photo supplied