Leadership Training Camp 2023
At the end of Semester 1, 148 newly elected CCA Leaders and Student Councillors took part in the Leadership Training Camp (LTC) organised by a Student Planning Committee (SPC). The SPC comprised 7 JC2 CCA Leaders and teachers from the Student Leadership (SLD) Committee. 21 other J2 CCA Leaders served as Group Facilitators for the programme. The LTC is a signature leadership training programme with the objective of instilling leadership competencies and group management skills in new student leaders through numerous hands-on activities and reflection segments. The LTC also serves to create a community of supportive student leaders within the college and is one of the three programmes that JPJC CCA leaders would undergo during their leadership stint.
The programme items (in chronological order) were:
(a) Understanding the JPJC Leadership Competencies – a segment that introduced the leadership competencies to these new leaders, thereby providing them with guidance on how to work towards becoming effective leaders;
(b) Communicating a Shared Vision – this was a new segment which challenged the leaders to think about the challenges in communicating a shared vision to the team through a role-play exercise.
(c) Team Building Activity – a segment that tested the leaders’ readiness to lead and influence the team, through a series of vigorous activities that required strategising, vision, and creativity etc.
(d) Humanity in Leadership – this was another new segment that allowed the new leaders to understand the human aspects of leadership and the complexities that come when leading a team of people with diverse views and multiple personalities. A key component of this segment was created for newly-elected leaders to understand how their counterparts are similar and different in the way they assess situations and the values they hold dear.
(e) Building Resilience, Grit & Drive – a series of challenging games that required time to strategise and refine their approaches after repeated attempts.
(f) Understanding Self as Leaders – a segment that offered opportunities for leaders to reflect on their personalities, leadership and conflict management styles, and how these differences between them and their CCA partners could be used constructively, to lead the CCA;
In order to maximise learning, the entire camp was conducted using an experiential learning approach, in which the student leaders gained knowledge and skills primarily through gamification, case studies, simulation exercises and discussions, facilitated by the SPC and the teachers. As a conclusion to the camp, SH/Student Leadership Mr Nur Izhar issued a Teachers’ Challenge to all CCA leaders, which involved all camp participants to work together to solve various missions around the school. The newly-elected leaders worked synergistically together in their attempts to overcome the challenge – a testament to their drive, perseverance and their readiness to lead. The CCA leaders were also issued with a CCA leaders’ T-shirt upon the completion of the camp, which has since been introduced as part of the approved list of T-shirts that could be worn as part of the college’s half uniform. To instil a sense of pride and unity, this CCA T-shirt will be worn every Wednesday.
