Student Leadership Conference 2025

 

National Student Leadership Week 2025

Every powerful movement starts with a leader... This week, we celebrated the our wonderful school student leaders such as the National Junior Honors Society, Student Council, Ambassadors and Homeroom Representatives for National Student Leadership Week 2025. It’s a time dedicated to recognizing and uplifting the incredible impact our student leaders have at our school and our community. NSWL is about more than just holding titles or wearing badges. It’s about the initiative, vision, and the courage our students had to make a difference. Each day a student leadership was recognized by getting a shout out in the Colts Morning Bulletin and later meeting in the Student Council Room for some sweet group pics and treats ;) Sydney Chun, Student Government Representative

Middle Level Student Leadership Summit 2025

Have you ever been in a room with hundreds of middle school students who are trying to be leaders just like you? Well, our Highlands Student Council would know exactly how it feels! We were just a small part of over 500 students that attended the Middle Level Student Leadership Summit 2025 on March 7 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in the heart of Waikiki. This event theme was “Lead Like Duke” and we all worked the entire day to carry on his legacy of service and leadership. The event kicked off with an inspirational speech by our Department of Education Superintendent, Keith Hayashi and a video message directed to the future leaders by Hawaii’s musical ambassador to the world, Jake Shimabukuro! But what we can say is the most exciting part of the conference was the different breakout sessions that were organized by students! Not to mention, our amazing Highlands Student Government ran their own breakout session, “Game On!: Gamification Theory and Student Activities”, which was a huge success as it was sold out! During the final segment of the leadership summit, we got to bond with other students in our district (Leeward) and build bonds that would soon turn into friendships! It was beyond thrilling to share our ideas with other students who in turn were inspired to make their schools a better and safer place to live and learn! Much mahalos to Dr. Sandy Cameli and everyone else who created this epic event! Isabelle Mina, Student Government Treasurer

 

Middle Level Student Leadership Summit 2024

Over 500 students from 46 schools statewide gathered today for the student-led Middle Level Student Leadership Summit on Friday - March 1st. This inaugural event was held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and was an absolute smash success! Student participants were encouraged to embrace the event theme, “Lead Like Duke,” highlighting the life and legacy of Duke Kahanamoku, and integrating his leadership traits and characteristics as the Ambassador of Aloha into the event’s activities and networking opportunities. The event really kicked off when everyone finally arrived (even schools from the neighbor islands) and we had several guest speakers like our Department of Education Superintendent, Mr. Keith Hayashi! The next segment was the part we were all really excited about - the breakout sessions run by middle school students just like us ;) It was exciting to see all the different breakouts available and we were even more excited that we had two breakouts from our very own Highlands Intermediate Student Council! Student Government was first with “Game On!: Gamification Theory & Student Activities” which was followed up by the Dance Committee’s presentation on “How To Make The Best School Dances!” It was so amazing to be able to share what we do at our school with middle school students from across the State. Big thanks to Dr. Sandy Cameli for putting on such an amazing event for all of us!  Jordyn Tolentino, Dance Committee

Full Council 2

What’s a great way to hear student voice and get the opinions of students across campus?  Have another Full Council meeting of course! On April 13th, Homeroom Representatives and Student Council members gathered in the Student Council Room to discuss issues at Highlands.  It was great to have VP Mr. Tanouye there to hear first hand these concerns! Homeroom Reps had already gotten input from their Homerooms on problems in the school earlier in the week. They were separated into three categories: student, team, and school concerns.  The representatives from each team grouped up and chose the top three concerns for each type. After that each team shared their main ideas with the rest of the Full Council. Some recurring complaints included cleaner bathrooms, less bullying, more air conditioning, and less homework.  This information will later be taken to school administrators to make Highlands a better place! Taylor, 8th Grade President