The students with their accompanying officials
It was a mix of adventure and excitement for a group of eight students from ACS Doha International School who completed the final stage of the school’s inaugural Leadership Training Programme by sailing from Doha to Al Khor and back.
The sailing escapade, which lasted about seven hours on board two yachts named Wave Plane and Office owned by the Regatta Sailing Academy, was also the climax of weeks of training, preparation and practice in a sport in which most of them had little or no experience.
Also onboard the boats were a Regatta Sailing Academy yacht master and a senior staff member of ACS Doha International.
The project is part of ACS Doha’s “Homeroom” curriculum for the grade eight students, which aims to instill skills such as communication, initiative, team work, the ability to solve problems and working towards a common goal.
Beyond the individual challenges of stepping out of their comfort zones, the students also learn to recognise that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and that the key to being successful is to share the workload, and let each individual’s strengths help compensate for another’s weaknesses.
Another activity in the school’s Leadership Training Programme that the students participated in was a group initiative workshop, which involves a variety of games to promote trust and organisational as well as confidence and listening skills.
The boys and girls – Yara, Sakina, Georgia, Zainab, Khalid, Jacob, Vinay, and Dany – also discussed with a teacher, what it means to be a leader and what challenges each face in order to become one.
Georgia said: “This experience taught us to work in a small space with other people, and communicate better with each other, because if you don’t speak to each other, the boat won’t go where you want it to. Or it will, but really slowly.”
Zainab said: “I think the experience has taught me that there are many different tasks to learn and they can be hard at first, but then you get used to it, and it’s a lot easier with your team mates on the boat with you.”
Physical Education Curriculum co-ordinator and assistant to the Advisory Programme co-ordinator, Lee Perry, said: “Many of the students have grown as individuals during this process, showing resilience that they did not know they possessed.
“I always enjoy watching such a process when students achieve something they thought was out of their reach. I hope they have learnt things about themselves and their classmates that they will be able to reflect on and utilise for the rest of their lives.”
Another staff of the school, Humanities Curriculum co-ordinator and grade eight homeroom adviser Deanna Milne echoed similar views, saying: “I have seen a radical change in the confidence of the students but, more importantly, the class has become a tight-knit group.”
Milne added: “I believe that by encouraging students to take opportunities, facing obstacles head-on, with the knowledge that their friends and team are supporting them, they will gain the tools to succeed in life, years after leaving middle or high school.”
“From the very beginning, the administration team was very supportive of the project, as we recognised the importance of developing leadership skills in our future school leaders. Not only have the students enjoyed themselves while participating in the programme, they have also learnt a great deal about each other outside the classroom environment.
“The leadership programme has been a great success so far, and we have no doubt it will continue to be so in the future” Middle and High School principal Dale Taylor said.
She mentioned plans to make the event a yearly activity with high schoolers next in line.

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