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Leadership and Clubs

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.

(Ken Blanchard)

Leadership and Clubs

At Mission Hills International School, we are very committed to providing opportunities for students to develop and refine leadership skills. We will not be satisfied with a passive learner who is unwilling to assume a reasonable expectation of ownership and responsibility for their education. Leadership skills will be modeled and taught. Numerous opportunities to exercise leadership will be provided. Feedback and reinforcement from teachers will be forthcoming.

Many students will exercise their leadership growth plan through clubs. All clubs will have an executive membership responsible for developing the club's mission and related activities. As part of an executive, students will strengthen their organizational skills and learn more about the value of flexibility and adaptability. They will practise communication skills. Setting appropriate goals and priorities for the club and balancing these with academic considerations will require the development of negotiation, problem-solving and decision-making skills. They will learn to respect the rights and contributions of others and they will grow to appreciate the importance of team-work.

The net result is a broad range of clubs will be offered at MHIS. They will meet on a regular basis at lunch-time, after-school or as part of week-end activities. All will have a teacher assigned to the club as a supervisor. They will cater to various interests, passions and needs. Students will be challenged to assume leadership roles within the clubs and push boundaries in positive ways. By doing so, they will become more responsible and socially competent individuals who have an increased sense of self-esteem and self-efficacy.

Clubs offered at MHIS include the following: Student Council, Environment Club; Habitat for Humanity; Interact Club; Global Issues Network (GIN); UNICEF; Amnesty International, Model United Nations, School Yearbook, School Newspaper, Chinese Magazine Club, Chess Club, Culinary Club, Math Team, Digital Ambassadors, Photography Club, Tutor Club, Debate Team and Battle of the Books Team.

Some of the clubs listed will be offered exclusively for Upper School students while some will be for both Lower and Upper School students. In addition to the formal clubs noted, we will provide for Lower School students a series of after school activities in the recreation and enrichment realm. This extended day program for students up to Grade 6 provides instruction in a relaxed environment and supervision by qualified staff.

  • Service Activities

    We have embedded in our Mission Statement a goal to develop in students the skills necessary to become compassionate global citizens. Service activities form a vital element in the attainment of this goal. Service is at the heart of our mission. We believe that members of our school community have a social responsibility to give back to the community and to the wider one as well - not only because it is part of the ethos of an international school and a requirement for students enrolled in an IB program but because it also has enormous benefits for the one who gives including some of the following:

    • Service learning has a very positive effect on the personal development of the student engaged in service (i.e. initiative, commitment, humility)
    • Service activities can be empowering or transformational. Knowledge gained from volunteer or service work is adaptable and can be used in one's thinking beyond the situation where the learning occurred.
    • For many students it can provide a missing link between the abstract or theoretical found in their course work and the outside real world. By doing so it has shown to improve motivation.
    • Service work encourages students to develop communication and leadership skills and it helps students work as members of a team.
    • Students engaged in service-learning are more likely to demonstrate empathy and to treat each other with kindness, help each other and care about doing their individual best.
    • Service learning provides exposure to regional and global issues of poverty, inequity, disease and injustice and provides for students a clearer understanding of how they can become "compassionate global citizens."

    Students at MHIS can become involved by providing direct service to other members of their school community (i.e. tutor, usher, digital ambassador, score-keeper, lunch monitor, and "buddy" for new student). Some will connect with the wider community as volunteers in hospitals and homes for the aged and some will travel as part of an experiential learning opportunity to work in an orphanage or rural school, engage in a beach clean-up, or participate in a home-build through Habitat for Humanity.

Students will be challenged to assume leadership roles within the clubs and push boundaries in positive ways. By doing so, they will become more responsible and socially competent individuals who have an increased sense of self-esteem and self-efficacy.

Many students will exercise their leadership growth plan through clubs. All clubs will have an executive membership responsible for developing the club's mission and related activities.