FOBISIA Leadership Conference

Jamie Juhyun Oh British School Year 9

The FOBISIA Leadership Conference has taught me a lot of things since I came back to Korea. Not only did I learn and develop my leadership skills, but I also got to learn how to lead and coach not only others but also myself.

Isabel Valle was one of our spokespersons, and she taught us that there are three steps in leadership: 1. lead myself; 2. lead others; 3. become one. Numbers 2 and 3 seemed quite easy in our daily lives, as they were more about communicating with others; however, number 1 (leading myself) is the biggest challenge in leadership. In fact, from my own experience, keeping my mental state stable is quite challenging when leading others due to all the pressure and stress I receive. She taught us that for us to be successful leaders, we need to know how to maintain ourselves and lead ourselves into a more optimistic mindset.

By attending this conference, I got to learn that leadership isn’t only about collaborating or being confident; it’s also about being mentally stable and positive.

Abi Yoo British School Year 9

In December of 2019, the younger me was looking forward to venturing outside of Korea with my newly made friends, however those dreams were promptly destroyed by the start of COVID. Disappointed was an understatement; with all trips being cancelled I dreamt of a day when we could go and travel abroad. Finally, this day came.

Erratum

In the British School section of our latest magazine, we would like to correct an error regarding the authorship of the article. The article titled Bringing back Community: reflections from SFS British School was written by Abi Yoo in Y9, and not by Junseo Lee as previously stated. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused. Here is Abi’s original piece:

During the past year there have been so many changes in such a short amount of time that I don’t think I have been able to truly appreciate the British School community. I personally believe that the changes regarding the head students [electing three students instead of two, with one responsible for the care of each Key Stage 3 year group] was a good decision because it unlocked so many opportunities for ideas and opinions to be voiced and shared from all year groups. Becoming a head student myself is going to be one of my biggest achievements this year and I am constantly learning and developing new skills that I am sure will help me in the future. There are a variety of different skills that I learnt throughout my time at SFBS, and the core values will always be a big part of my time here. My ability to collaborate and communicate with peers has significantly increased since I first joined this school; I have learnt how to respect people, not just teachers but other students as well; I have learnt how to be courageous and take risks from time to time, how to reflect on my past decisions and experiences, and learnt to reflect on what I can do better next time I face the same problem. Through this position as head student I have had the chance to communicate with so many different members of the SFBS community and it has really shown me how much the teachers and the school in general care about us students’ wellbeing and our school lives. I believe that community is and always will be a very important part of SFBS and I wish for the future generations to be able to experience the same welcoming, safe environment I had the pleasure of being in.

On the 9th of February 2023 we left from Incheon Airport to Bangkok, Thailand. Immediately, we were greeted with the hot and humid weather but somehow it felt refreshing. The first day at Shrewsbury International School consisted of a project called Race4Good, founded by Linda Cruse. I was intrigued by the stories she had to tell and was amazed at how much she had accomplished. As the days went on I got more and more interested in how we can embrace our own interests and talents to create something more. Throughout these days I took part in a number of different workshops and learnt how I can lead others and most importantly, how I can lead myself. One of my favourite speakers was Isabel Valle, a Leadership Coach who, during the conference, taught me to focus on controlling my mind and leading my own thoughts before others. Later on I spoke with her separately about some questions I had and what advice she had. Even though it was short, those few minutes gave me guidance that I know will last me a lifetime.

During this trip I also got to meet new people, teachers, and students. By sharing our different traditions we were able to accept and support the differences rather than allow them to further move us apart. When I returned to Korea, I felt like I woke up from a long dream. One which you don’t really want to wake up from. Once I returned however, my mental model had changed. If you asked me before the conference, “What do you think makes a good leader?” I would have said the ability to listen to others and communicate with them. I would have talked about how the leader must work for the team. This is all true but one crucial thing that I learnt during the trip was that a leader works for the team and that the leader is also a part of the team. If you ask me now, “What do you think makes a good leader?” I will confidently say the ability to listen to others, to cooperate and encourage but also, to take care of yourself. The ability to lead yourself before taking on the responsibility of leading others. The ability to be self-aware and understand your own doubts (gremlins) before helping others. I learnt that thinking about yourself does not make you a bad leader; sometimes you have to take a step back and guide your own mind before guiding others. Now that restrictions are being lifted I hope that in the future we can have more opportunities to learn and develop our thinking.