Last Thursday on February 15th, an afternoon of training was held for the 2024 Cohort of International Prefects.
The International Prefect position provides an opportunity for international students in Years 12 and 13 to play an active leadership role in supporting fellow students from overseas at Macleans College.
The training was structured into three main components,starting off with a focus on leadership. To kick off the afternoon, prefects were presented with a self-evaluation where they assessed their individual strengths and identified potential challenges they may encounter in this leadership role. Through this introspective exercise, leadership goals were set for the year.
This was followed up by an exploration of Daniel Goleman’s article from the Harvard Business Review, “Leadership that Gets Results”, where prefects studied the six styles of leadership presented by Goleman. A focus was placed on understanding how each modus operandi functioned, particularly in regards to the underlying emotional intelligence competencies involved.
Furthermore, prefects delved into analyses of when each modus operandi worked best and their overall impact on others when utilised to lead. Overall, the first component helped the prefects understand which leadership styles they were more comfortable with in general and which aspects of their leadership they needed to work on.
Moving on from leadership, the training then delved into its second component: effective communication strategies. The session focused on cultivating assertive verbal and non-verbal communication skills, particularly when engaging with new students. Moreover, it explored approaches to handling cultural as well as gender diversity, allowing prefects to better serve the melting pot of cultures we have here at Macleans with international students coming from all over the world.
Concluding the training was an engaging and interactive activity – the classic tricky scenarios exercise. Prefects were sorted into teams to collaboratively address potential challenges they might encounter from interactions with other international students. This exercise encouraged the development of creative and effective solutions to navigate these situations successfully. Afterwards, the training was wrapped up with a large spread of gourmet pizza for dinner.
The comprehensive training equipped prefects with valuable insights into their leadership and allowed them to hone their skills in effective communication as well as problem-solving, preparing them to support Macleans College’s diverse international student community.
“Great gathering and socialising opportunities while setting some goals for us as international prefects. Excited about this year.”
-Quinn Zhong, Year 13 Student
Congratulations to the students who were selected for this year’s prefect cohort and a special thanks to Mrs Lum and Mrs Ashby for providing this invaluable experience for the prefects.
22nd Feburary, 2024
Written by Aaron Huang, edited by Amelia Hu and Emma Li
Photos taken by Joyce Lum
