10/13/2026
Twenty-three of our HHSS students got to be Spirit Leaders at the Canadian Student Leadership Conference at Camp White Pine for 4 days!
650 student and their advisors/teachers from across Canada attended the conference in Haliburton!
Our HHSS students opened the conference by giving thanks for the land we use,learn on and live on. They shared with the delegates about the amazing things that the County of Haliburton has. They were the opening act for Keynote Speaker Alan Doyle. Throughout the conference students also heard from other keynote speakers Angela Sterritt and Joanna Johnson! Who all delivered amazing messages and things to think about!
Our students introduced and thanked speakers and participated in workshops about Leadership Development, Scholarships, How to be the best leader possible, Wheelchair basketball : inclusion in motion, Creative problem solving, Career-making: Figuring Out What to Do After High School, Service in a Meaningful Way and Hand Drum Teachings: The Heartbeat of Mother Earth. Workshops also included French-delivered learning one of them by our own Mrs. Rebeka Borgdorff “Servir d'Abord!“ (Service above self) which students loved!
Also part of the workshop experiences was “The Haliburton Entrepreneurship Panel” where 4 entrepreneurs shared their experiences, stories and advice with students! Thank you Andrew Hodgson, Brandi Reynolds, Kieran Gillooly and our own HHSS students Kadyn Gillooly!
Delegates also participated in a Service project for Water First. Our HHSS students lead the rest of the delegates through a series of activities helping them learn about “Water First” that sustainable access to safe, clean water in Indigenous communities continues to be a pressing issue in Canada.
If you were in Haliburton on Saturday October 10 you would have seen the 650 delegates descended on our Town as they participated in the Haliburton Leadership Tour! Our HHSS students ran stations throughout HHSS and the town of Haliburton for our Canadian Delegates to help them learn about Haliburton and what we do at HHSS. Thank you so much to Teachers Rebeka Borgdorf and Justin Collins and all of our staff who helped out to get ready for this day!
Thank you to the businesses in town who let us put up clues in their windows!
Delegates also learned about Heat Bank Haliburton County, a program of Central Food Network as part of their tour. To get ‘points’ for their teams they then took to the streets of Haliburton and handed out info about our local Heat Bank and how to donate!
We wanted to thank everyone who helped make this possible for our students!
- Minden Rotary and Haliburton Rotary for sponsoring our students to attend CSLC!
- Pride in the Highlands for helping at the school!
- Minden County Signs who created a lot of the CSLC signage and gave CSLC stickers for the delegates!
- The local businesses who donated prizes, giveaways and spaces for us to use: Kohara Lighting, Foodland (Haliburton), Coneybeare's Butcher Shop, Glecoff's Family Store, Needful Things, Wintergreen Maple Products & Farm Gate Foods, 100.9 Canoe FM Community Radio, and Rails End Gallery and Arts Centre, Haliburton!
We are so grateful to all of you! The Delegates loved their Haliburton Experience and our beautiful village!
Throughout CSLC our HHSS students learned so much and had a once-in-a-lifetime “life-changing experience” (as quoted by our students)!
Thank you CSLC organizers and HHSS Spirit Leaders for all that you did to help CSLC be the best experience possible! HHSS students - we are so proud of all that you did and learned!
Trillium Lakelands DSB
