Coming into this year, I will be the first to admit that I did not expect to do a lot of work in Leadership class when I registered last year. Though I knew I would need to put effort into it, I did not know what exactly that entailed. All I knew from watching the students last year was that they planned all the fun things at school and made posters, but being in the class has opened me up to all the behind-the-scenes work.

This is not to say that Leadership class is not fun, because it really is. The first few classes we played games and did activities that were geared toward team bonding, and we had a lot of fun. But the start of this year surprised me because we jumped right into activities and working, with a busy schedule and plenty more things on the agenda. And when my teacher, Mrs. Angelia Moore, said we would have to write three page journals on a regular basis, my response was not enthusiastic.

However, as the first few weeks of school have passed, the work seems insignificant compared to the impact Mrs. Moore has shown us we can make at school. In the games and activities we did in the first week or two of classes, Mrs. Moore incorporated elements of the book we read over the summer, Anatomy of Peace, which helped us to apply the lessons from the book not only to the games and worksheets, but also to our everyday lives.

These lessons have also been serving us as we have been mentoring our freshmen ANPs, who we visit every other day for 20 minutes. Though most of these visits are just for talking, encouraging the freshmen to get involved, or helping them if they need it, sometimes we lead activities for character building, which are reflections of what we learn in class. Though it is pretty tough to get them talking, there are a few that are becoming comfortable approaching me instead of being afraid of a big bad senior, and that is really what it is all about- just helping them feel comfortable and happy to be at OHS.

The most unique opportunity we get, however, is the time we spend with the Special School District (SSD) students. Though I have not been able to visit for the whole class yet, the five to ten minutes I spent in their room really touched me. Those kids are so happy to see us, even if all we do is smile at them. It makes their day. And it benefits us, too, by helping us grow individually and learning about EVERYONE in Our House, not only the obvious members.