NC’s Diversity Council left for a magical trip two-day to Disney World for a Youth Leadership Program on Saturday, October 14. Located in Epcot, the program took the NC students throughout the park, allowing them to analyze the fundamentals of teamwork and leadership that play into a successful corporation.  

“This trip was so beneficial. I learned the four keys to having a highly effective team and am able to apply that in things our group is doing.” junior Catherine Mockalis said.

The Diversity Council contains a variety of student leaders chosen by NC administration. This group retains specific responsibilities in the infrastructure of the school: communication, leadership, and decision-making all fall into the hands of the council. Though the council started up only months ago, the selected sophomores and juniors already exceed their own expectations as a team.

Principle Bucky Horton and administrators David Bell and Kiel Southwell aim to use the Diversity Council to better the communication between students and staff, as well as tackle difficult situations with the help of these student leaders. In order to nurture and improve this new team, the Disney Youth Leadership Program posed as the best opportunity for the members to bond with each other.

The Diversity Council stayed at the All Star Sports Disney Resort and reported to Epcot in the early morning for training. Day one consisted of a detailed layout concerning leadership. Finances, employee affairs, and consumer affairs posed as the top three priorities of a successful business, as taught in the course. With the design of the program directly from the Disney executive office, further analysis of leadership fundamentals took place throughout day one.

Day two of the trip took the students on Epcot’s famous Mission Space ride to analyze and apply the lesson of the day: teamwork. Students received the opportunity to observe the infrastructure of Disney as a corporation, giving the Diversity Council knowledge applicable to their very own school. The potential of this group of young leaders shined in this experience, as observed by Bell and Horton.

“With the Diversity Council, we are teaching kids and empowering them to better their own school, their own peers. I see so much potential in this group and I’m excited to see where they go,” Bell said.