RRHS hosts national student council conference

Rio Rancho High School hosted the VISION 2024 National Student Council Conference, which included 700 delegates from 29 states, last weekend.

“Student leaders from all around our country get together to have an opportunity to learn with speakers that teach you leadership skills and just teach you how to grow within your school,” student body president Anika Garduño said.

The official slogan of the 2024 Vision National Conferences, which ran June 21-23, was “Lasso your leadership in the Wild, Wild West.” The goal of these conferences is to emphasize peer-to-peer learning through networking, student-led roundtables, school projects Gallery Walk, national motivational speakers, leadership skill training, hands-on community service and more.

“We are so thrilled we got to show the nation why Rio Rancho is so special. Dr. (Sue) Cleveland met with student leaders in August and allowed them to plan a national event in less than a year's time,” activities director Christopher Salas said in an email.

Also in attendance were eight motivational speakers and trainers including, Juan Bendana, Dr. Farah and A’ric Jackson, who initiated a flash mob with delegates.

“Presenters, a lot of workshops that students could go to, we had a few keynote speakers; they do 45 minutes to an hour-long speeches with the whole group. We had TedX talks that were like 15 minutes,” former RRHS student Victoria Thompson said. Thompson graduated in May and will be a freshman at New Mexico State University for the fall semester.

One of Thompson’s favorite events was the “Burning of the Gloom” in which participants wrote stuff that caused them gloom and then later on in the night they burned it in a giant pit of fire in order to feel refreshed and rejuvenated.

“Because we have Zozobra here in New Mexico, one of the big things we did was the burning of the gloom. They wrote down something that worried them or something that they were in their heads about. And then, we had the burning of the gloom, which was so much fun. We had s’mores, firepits, and then we gotta burn it and let it go,” Thompson said.

Some other activities throughout the three-day event included a hot-air balloon on the grass fields, a glow ceremony, visits from the Tamaya horse rehab nonprofit, rodeos and a very crowded RRHS campus filled with young leaders.

“The biggest thing, in terms of what the student council can do for you, the reason you should do it, is because you’re just going to learn and develop so much, not only as a leader, but as a human. You’re just going to find new parts of yourself that you never understood or knew you had, and that you have potential — and that everyone has potential — to be a phenomenal leader,” former RRHS student Ethan Rougemont said. Rougemont graduated in May and will be a freshman at the University of New Mexico for the fall semester