Brentdickson's Blog

Pep Rally Success

brentdickson — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:09:43 +0000

Centennial Leadership ran its first successful pep rally in over a year. We had struggled with student response in the past so decided to take a year off from pep rallies. Yesterday the tradition was revived. The gym was full and loud. The Leadership class did a great job planning, preparing, and running the show. We used the tried and true Battle of the Sexes theme. It got the kids fired up. We followed the formula of beginning with low risk whole group activities. They watched a video we made followed bya a group cheer and paper airplane contest. We then moved to medium risk activities. These are activities where several people participate in front of the group. These included the benchwarmers relay and stuff the VW. We then moved to high risk activities where there are very few people doing something in front of the group. We did a bubble gum spit and a gender trivia contest. Then the grand finale was four of our teachers doing a lip synch dance number to Beyonce’s Put a ring on it. The theory behind this assembly came from the DVD building school climate from differencemakers.com. If you have questions about our rally contact me.

Gym Class Hero

brentdickson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:34:29 +0000

We have started a new tradition at Centennial which we learned from Western Canada High School here in Calgary. Once a month we give out a T-Shirt in each P.E. class which says Gym Class Hero and has the Centennial logo. The shirt goes to a student who exemplifies the very best in what we want to see in our classes. They are always there and enthusiastic. They try hard and have fun. They encourage and are kind to others. They are a good teammate and often volunteer to help with equipment. Notice that athletic ability doesn’t play a role. We then award the shirt in class in front of their peers after saying a few words about how great they are. There is only one way to get the shirt. It has to be earned. It has been a big hit with some students lobbying to be next month’s Gym Class Hero. Thanks Western for a great idea!

Spread The Net at Halloween

brentdickson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:33:53 +0000

On Friday Oct. 30th Centennial’s leadership class sponsored our annual Halloween Dress Up day. This has always been a big day at our school. We have especially appreciated the support from our staff. This year we have decided to take on one charitable project for the year rather than several smaller ones. So this year we are supporting Rick Mercer’s Spread The Net campaign. Ten dollars buys one mosquito net and prevents malaria for children in Africa. We debuted the campaign during Halloween. The class brainstormed and decided to copy the old Unicef boxes which they would take door to door while trick or treating when they were younger. So both leadership classes made their own Unicef boxes and carried them around all day asking for donations in the school. My goal was more awareness than fundraising. When the final tally was in we had raised over $500.00. I was pleasently suprised. We now have a new tradition at Centennial. Give it a try next Halloween.

Happy Thanksgiving

brentdickson — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:19:16 +0000

It is -4C for a high in Calgary today on Thanksgiving Monday. So my motivation for a run was low and I walked instead. I also listened to the Stuart Maclean Vinyl Cafe podcast as I walked by the bow river. He told a story about accidently getting stuck in a parade. This reminded me of my Wife’s experience this summer. She was driving from Calgary to Waterton with our oldest boy to meet up with the rest of us. She was cutting through Hillspring, a very small town, on the way. There was a traffic jam. How could this be? Turns out it was Hillspring days and my wife found herself in the middle of a parade. This is the small town type of parade where 3/4 of the town is in the parade and the rest are watching. Of course each float is throwing candy. At that moment my wife made a decision, rather than be embarrased she embrassed the moment and like a local dignitarywaved to the crowd. Sadly she had no candy to throw. So what is the moral of the story? First, when stuck in a situation you didn’t choose rather than hide your head you should wave like the parade marshall. Second, always carry candy. You never know when it may come in handy! Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Idea

brentdickson — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:41:16 +0000

I heard a great Halloween activity idea at CSLC (Canadian Student Leadership Conference). Students go trick or treating and ask for donations to the food bank instead of taking candy. I thought this was a great idea. Then they end the evening with a party celebrating their success at the school. Give it a try.

CSLC Is Hot To Go

brentdickson — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:33:27 +0000

Just got back from the Canadian Student Leadership Conference (CSLC) in mighty Olds, Alberta. Unlike PEI last year this wasn’t too much of a trip for us. Just 1 hour up the highway. What a great conference. I saw Tyler Durham speak for the first time and was very impressed. Also got to see and meet some old favorites, Ian Tyson and Phil Boyte. This is my 7th CSLC conference. It is great to meet with good friends from across Canada and pick up new ideas. I also got to give two sessions to student leaders on ideas I have picked up through the years. I had students from Yale Secondary in Abbotsford where I taught before and Harry Ainlay High School in Edmonton where I went to High School. It becomes a small world in Leadership circles.

Mud Bowling Update

brentdickson — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:23:39 +0000

For those who were wondering we took another shot at the Human Mud Bowling. But it was a no go. I received training on how to turn on the outside water. Suprisingly it requires four valves being releasedin sequence. I was focused and prepared. Valve one sucessfully turned! Valve two was a go! Valve three – no go! I couldn’t budge it to save my life. So we called the board office. Turns out the board sent some covert operatives to our school and blew the air out of the pipes and sealed them for the winter. Good thing since it has been around 26C the last few days. So the lesson I guess is that sometimes no matter what you do sometimes the fates work against you.

Ask a question and double check the answer!

brentdickson — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:06:08 +0000

I learned (or relearned) another important leadership lesson this last week. We were running our welcome week activities at lunch every day. One of the activities was to be Human Mud Bowling. You get a bunch of peet moss and spread it in a pile on a field. You then water it down until it looks like mud. (The beauty of the activity is that when you are finished you keep watering down the peet moss and raking it and the stuff dissolves into the grass. No mud to hall away! ) Once the mud is ready you take 10 2 litre bottles, fill them 1/4 full of water, put the cap on, and use them as pins. Create a safe distance barrier and make sure you have excellent supervisors. Then pre select some human bowlers to give demos of sliding through the mud and knocking down pins. Everything was ready. I confirmed with our custodians that the hoses were ready and working. On the dayof the event everything is ready. We just need water. I then found out that the custodian who knew how to turn on the water was away. Of course because we are a fancy new building this is not as simple as one tap. It takes huge amounts of water to get the peet moss wet enough. So, due to technical activities activity cancelled. We will try again this week. Lesson – ask more detailed questions about what “ready to go” means – or get trained on how to turn on the water (I did)

P.S. Just wanted to declare to the world that our custodial staff is awesome – they have tons on their plate and it was my responsibility to be sure about the water. They offered to help carry out buckets but that would be way too many buckets

Brent Dickson Debuts Online

brentdickson — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:38:16 +0000

I am excited to start up this blog dealing with the world of Student Leadership. I have been involved as an advisor for 12 years and have also had the opportunity to speak with students and Advisors across Canada.

I have been active in the Alberta Association of Student Councils and Advisors (AASCA) for seven years and served as President for two years.

Centennial High School in Calgary, Alberta, Canada is proud to be hosting the 20th annual Provincial High School Student Leadership Conference May 24-26, 2009. Our conference is titled “Be The Change”. As chair of the conference I am very excited and busy.

Hello world!

brentdickson — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:43:24 +0000

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!