October 4th, 2018 – Elementary school students arrive at Quigley Hall at the CEC for the first ECSLIT meeting of the year.

The elementary division of CSLIT meets the first Thursday of every month to listen to guest speakers, learn to become better leaders, be exposed to various social justice issues, and have the opportunity to network with likeminded student leaders.

First on the agenda, CSLIT’s Faith Ambassador Gabriella Davies introduced the new pastoral plan, “Rooted in Christ: We Believe, We Belong, We Become.” The assembly then went over the pastoral prayer, and were encouraged to take this prayer back to their schools. You can learn more about the new pastoral plan here

To get the energy flowing, attendance was taken – CSLIT style. Students got into their school groups and prepared a short cheer to preform in front of the other schools. Being as loud and as proud about their school as possible.

Next up – TCDSB Director, Rory McGuckin, welcomed the young leaders to the meeting, “Leaders start by defining reality and always end by say thank you. And in between, leaders live to serve others.”

Mr. McGuckin also shared his 4 keys of Leadership: Be nice to everyone, ask a lot of questions, give it your best, and be caring and compassionate.

After Rory McGuckin, Michael Consul took to the stage to share the quote of the month.

Michael talked about preaching the Gospel through ones actions and how people will follow your example more than they will follow your words.

Our guest speaker this month was Yasmeen Tonnos from BETR which is an acronym for 4 important components of leadership: Believe, Excel, Transform, Revitalize. The aim of BETR is to shape leaders today, so we can have a BETR tomorrow.

After a quick pizza break, each school was given a cup, 2 pipe cleaners, 3 straws, a strip of tape, and 1 sheet of chart paper. The goal was to create the tallest, free-standing, self supported tower. The tallest tower would win a box of donuts!

Our Student Trustees, Joel Ndongmi and Taylor Dallin, also presented the students with the 7 pillars of focus as compiled by high school students from last year’s Voices that Challenge survey. ECSLIT students were given the opportunity to vote on which area of focus were the most important to them. In addition, each school was asked to provide 1 different area of focus not apart of this list that was important to their school.

E-CSLIT now has an instagram page @ecslit_tcdsb

If your school couldn’t make it to this months ECSLIT meeting, the next meeting will be on Thurs. November 1st, 2018, in Quigley Hall. Register to attend here (schools previously signed up don’t need to register).

Look forward to seeing you at our next ECSLIT meeting.