Last weekend, as the Wrestling Team headed off to compete at state and Dance Team geared up for regionals, another student body group was busy outside of Sandpoint.

The school’s Student Council attended the Idaho Association of Student Councils state conference in Boise. At the conference, students voted for new regional officers to comprise next year’s state student government, participated in an afternoon’s worth of leadership breakout sessions, and enjoyed themselves while meeting other young leaders from Idaho.

A’ric Jackson, an award winning speaker that has captivated audiences all across the nation, stole the show with an incredibly powerful and motivating message that had every one of the attending students on their feet.

Though he kept it light with humor (and lots of dabbing), A’ric touched just about every student and educator alike in the room, showing everyone the importance of fearlessness, and allowing oneself to break free of “the box” that holds them back. Sandpoint Stuco hopes to get A’ric up to SHS to speak somewhere in the future so that his uplifting messages can be delivered to the entire student body.

After a few hours of breakout sessions, students got to have some fun in the evening, where some battled in bouncy castles and others danced the night away.

“My favorite part was getting to know people from other schools and learning about what they do and how we can apply it to our school,”  Post Falls Junior representative Parker Walton said.

This year’s conference afforded Idaho councils the opportunity to interact with student leaders from all across the state as well as many valuable lessons and experiences.  

“The conference was the most well attended we’ve ever had, we had the best speakers I think that we’ve ever had, and the schools that presented gave the best presentations we’ve had,” IASC Region 1 and 2 Director Malia Meschko said. “Overall, if it wasn’t for A’ric Jackson being our keynote speaker, we may not have had such a successful event because he took extra time and care getting to know our students.”