Sigourney students develop leadership at Pursuing Victory With Honor Summit

            Sigourney High School Students had the opportunity to learn what it takes to be a true leader at the Pursuing Victory With Honor Summit hosted at Iowa State University on Tuesday, Oct 11.

            16 high school students, lead by Anatomy teacher Klynt Weber, joined more that 500 students from across Iowa at Hilton Coliseum for the summit, which featured collegiate athletes, former high school coaches and headlining speaker ISU Men’s Basketball coach Steve Prohm, all taking to attendees about what it takes to better yourself on and off the field. Each presenter did something slightly different, but according to Weber, all speakers wanted to get the students out of their comfort zones.

            “The kids took encouragement to get out of their comfort zone, even if it goes against what’s popular,” Weber said. “They took kids up in front of everyone, made the face their discomfort.”

            Coaches discussed how communication, habit, accountability and mindset let to better performance, creating a system called C.H.A.M.P. Communication is about focusing on the test or shot, and working as a team player. Habit was presented as keeping a good posture and encouraging others daily. Accountability concentrated creating a system to keep you in check. Mindset is knowing that there are things you can’t change, so move on to the next challenge. Finally, all of this leads up to an impact performance, whether it be at a desk or on the field.

            Among the 16 students that went up was Sydney Striegel, a junior at Sigourney High School. Striegel, who is involved in activities including volleyball and student council, decided to sign up for the trip to learn more ways to become a better leader for her teammates, and as a member of student government.

            “The presentations were athletically centered, but I felt there messages went beyond just sports,” Striegel said. “This is all important in everyday life and we learned how to approach class/teammates in a constructive way, without nagging them and making a situation worse.”

            Leadership was the dominant theme of the day, broken into three parts; “carefrontation,” Integrity and Toughness. “Carefrontation” revolves around to be constructive leader and letting teammates know what they can work on. Integrity was discussed as a way to achieve your goals in a positive manner, while helping your fellow teammates do the same. Finally, toughness was discussed to showcase how the best athletes act on the field; with grit, focus and how to deal with frustration.

            “The speaker, who was a former coach, talked about how players can reset themselves when they are frustrated,” Striegel said. “He gave an example of a football player, who simply looked at a certain spot on a goal post and used that to center his focus.”

            While Striegel feels that leadership is a skill that people tell her she possesses, she also encourages those who do not feel like leaders to take part in the event if the chance presents itself. When she was invited to attend the Pursuing Victory With Honor Summit by Weber, Striegel felt this was a great opportunity to further her skills as a leader.

            “I learned things about myself that I didn’t really know,” Striegel said. “Even if you don’t see yourself as a leader, this conference could be great for you.”

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