ICE 2014

On February 26th, Mr. Markey gave me the opportunity to accompany him along with another student, Stephanie Castro, a Leyden graduate, Jeremy Mercado, and Mr. Manola to ICE.

I knew what I was getting into; speaking publicly in front of many people, but that didn't stop me from going. Of course I was nervous, but with a little bit of practice of what I was going to present, I believed I would be okay.

We had one presentation divided into five parts where each of us got to speak a little bit of. Mr. Markey did an amazing job on presenting about how Leyden developed and keeps going on 1:1. Jeremy Mercado did an INCREDIBLE on his slides about student voice. He came up with his own acronym  of how he got inspired and was able to do new things when he finally spoke and said what he wanted. Stephanie also did a marvelous job on student choice talking about her experience with Taste of Teaching and Mr. Manola really emphasized how student leadership can improve our school's environment and our student's lives.

My part of the presentation was student empowerment. As a TSI student, I am able to relate to the type of empowerment the school gave me when Leyden decided to go 1:1. I briefly talked about TSI and our opportunities and choices the class grants us with. 

I really hope our presentation influenced the people in our audience to consider going 1:1. Leyden has changed since my freshmen year when they decided to go 1:1. I personally think it has benefited our school academically and socially. Being 1:1 gave us opportunities that other schools don't have.

Thank you to Mr. Markey for inviting me and good job to everyone that went!