Eighteen students from Orrick High School’s student council were hosted at William Jewell College for a day of leadership and innovation training Aug. 30.
The students started the day at the Tucker Leadership Lab, where they were encouraged to take pride in being leaders and use their positions on the student council to encourage others despite obstacles.
In the afternoon, students were led in an ideation session by University Innovation Fellow (UIF) and senior biochemistry major, Sam Fulte. Ideation is a process of collective problem solving by empathizing with people, identifying the issues they face and then developing detailed plans to address them.
Fulte, who attended Orrick High School, commented that knowing about the ideation process would have added value to her experience there.
“When I went through UIF training I found the ideation process really interesting and it made me think about being in student council back in high school. I wish that I had known about it then because I had a lot of opportunities to apply it,” said Fulte.
Students were encouraged to explore solutions to problems they face without worrying about barriers typically faced by student organizations, such as budgetary, policy or time constraints.
With these guidelines the students were able to identify solutions to issues on their campus, including limited student engagement, use of offensive language and a lack of school spirit.
Orrick High School students ideate ways to increase student engagement in school sponsored activities and events.
Fulte, who approached the sponsors of Orrick High School’s student council in April 2018 about the workshop, believes that understanding the ideation process will help the students beyond their high school years.
“I was impressed by the maturity of the students and the ideas that they came up with, especially the way they spoke about creating change by addressing their school’s culture,” said Fulte. “Now that they know about ideation they can use it for the rest of their lives.”
Following the ideation session, Admissions Counselor Troy Williams spoke to the students about the prospect of studying at Jewell in the future.
