Student Leadership Johns Creek Kicks Off 9th Year Virtually

Johns Creek GA

20 August, 2020

12:23 PM

Description

JOHNS CREEK, GA — Student Leadership Johns Creek kicked off their 2020-21 program in new fashion on Friday and Saturday. When Fulton County Schools chose to open schools virtually, SLJC immediately pivoted to a virtual platform. The kick-off retreat is normally hosted by a local escape game, but in this virtual world the group decided to travel to Eastern Europe to remotely participate in team building in two virtual escape rooms. This year, 103 students representing the Johns Creek high schools: Centennial, Chattahoochee, Johns Creek and Northview, didn't miss a beat and escaped the games in record time while learning about their group mates for the upcoming year. "With Corona, I often feel isolated and very distant from my friends," said Tina Dong a second- year SLJC student from Northview High School, "but the escape game was an exciting experience that allowed me to work together with friends again." When considering a virtual escape room, the organization realized that they were not tethered to Atlanta, so they began to investigate virtual games throughout the country and beyond. They discovered Lost Escape Games in Lithuania. The owners worked with them to plan a virtual retreat experience that was nearly 5,000 miles away and a 7-hour time zone difference and it worked well. The hosts at Lost Escape patiently worked with 11 different groups of students helping them through the process of escaping in a set amount of time. "It was nice meeting so many young people who wanted to spend their time solving puzzles and improving their logical and team buildings skills," said one of the hosts. "Every team was different so it was really exciting working with all of you." For more information on Lost Escape Games, visit online, and to receive a 10 percent discount on a virtual game enter the coupon code "friends." The virtual retreat officially kicked off the ninth year of Student Leadership Johns Creek and the program will continue with monthly program days in a virtual platform at least through December. The first-year students will work on community projects which, by necessity, will be done virtually. The second-year students will work on creating an online portfolio including a Linked-In profile and resume. In addition, the students will be shadowing a business professional in a field of study they are interested in pursuing. Student Leadership Johns Creek Ambassadors will also be facilitating two candidate debates virtually this fall. The two-year SLJC program is managed by an advisory committee under the direction of Leadership Johns Creek, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, in collaboration with Fulton County Schools. Aside from managing the day-to-day functions, Executive Director Irene Sanders provides leadership by example to all the students and the community. She is a Johns Creek resident and mother of two graduates of Johns Creek high schools and also serves as a Johns Creek Planning Commissioner. Fundamental to the program is a rigorous application process that includes those students who have demonstrated solid or emerging leadership qualities. Applications for the 2021-22 class will be available Dec. 1. For more information, contact Sanders at [email protected], 404-406-0480 or visit the website. Students participating in Student Leadership Johns Creek for 2020-2021 are: Johns Creek High School: Sam BeagleKlara ChoiEmily CoryElizabeth DouglasCatherine HannahAsa HawkinsOmeed KalanSiddharth KawatraLydia Grace LoganLuke MichaelisKatie ReeAnushka SharmaArya ShethMegan SunAllison SwiftMargaret WeiCarly YinTy DavalbhaktaCarson Forkey Carson Kennedy Charlotte Lichtenfeld Ethan Loy Carlos Luz Omer Mujawar Chloe Nicholas Aanya Parekh Mihir Paul Eshaan Salvi Aashwin Sharma Ananya Shetty Kavin Uppal Chattahoochee High School: Medhini AnandAshley ElamAtharv ElamsenthilBetty GuoMichelle HoSneha JayanthiEsther KimPraneeth KotaGayatri KumarRiley McCabeAditi MohanAadhav PrabuJulia ScottOlivia ShafferApurva SharmaSneha TallamAlison YauAkhila YellapragadaRaksha AdamaNishanth Chandran Gabby Clerveau Vania Dominick Amrit Garlapati Mallika Kulkarni Kadyn Lee Ansley Lee Shruti Nemala Anshika Nichani Soham Satghare Friana Siganporia Anastacia Stoyanov Natalie Wong Centennial High School: Evan AlbrightTamera McDuffieLeslie VelasquezMeaghan DearingCarmella DunnHarrison FrankSummer HinkleHarper HughesLauren Larsen Dawson Moragne Mehar Nemani Mary Owen Alex Swann Harrison Williams Addy Wilson Northview High School: Noreen AliNavya BingiAshutosh ChakragiriAnika DahiyaTianyu "Tina" DongAdi GuptaMelissa LiuAnish NairJanice NamNiyomi ShahSamay ShahSamad ShaikhSneha SharmaAnshi VajpayeeJulie WuAryan AfreAbinav Chari Anjali Dhupam Nikita Jha Shresta Jha Akshay Para Tara RameshTanvi RaoAmulya Rekapalli Aesha Shah Vidhi Tiwary Aakansh Yerpude Sophia Ying