Yesterday in Leaders UNITE, the students did an activity called “Create Your Own Language,” which is all about teamwork and communication. In this activity, I gave students 10 different words (randomly selected), and the students had to create new ways of saying these words in their own made up language! The goal of this activity was to work together to create these words, and to brainstorm what kinds of things are important when communicating with one another about ideas. The students had actually done this activity before (right when they started Leaders UNITE in the fall), but we redid this activity with a bit more independence this time around- seeing how students would step up as leaders and how they would work together as a team without as much of a push from me. I was very impressed with the students’ communication during the activity! Although at first they started by only discussing with the student next to them, they soon realized that they could not come to an agreement about the words this way, since every pair of students had different ideas for their made-up language. The students then did a great job of changing the way they communicate: instead of only discussing with the person next to them, they began discussing with all of the students at the table. Once they did this, they were all able to come up with words that everyone was happy with! I was thrilled to see the students learn along the way and shift their communication strategies to create better results. They also did a great job of thinking about all of their friends to make sure that everyone was happy with the made-up language before continuing. It is such a joy to see the students conquer new challenges every week, learn more about leadership, and have fun!