The hallways of Yale Secondary are teeming with hundreds of students from all over the province, but these youth aren't learning reading, writing or arithmetic.
For the first time ever, the British Columbia Student Leadership Conference has arrived in Abbotsford, and it all kicked off on Thursday evening with the opening ceremonies.
Students mingled and got together with their spirit groups on Thursday before hitting the classroom for most of the day on Friday.
Keynote speaker Phil Botye helped kick things off on Friday morning with a 90 minute interactive speech about school culture. Botye got students to engage in several culture building activities and offered words on his experiences.
"Imagine if we could build a community at school and actually make it fun to come to school," he said. "How cool would it be to have this type of culture in your school? What would happen if, you guys as leaders, broke those walls down in your school?"
Botye said mistakes are a reality of life and that he believes fail means "first attempt in learning."
Following Botye's speech, students attended sessions located in classrooms on a variety of leadership based topics. After lunch, there were two more 75 minutes sessions before students head to dinner at Sikh Temple and skating and swimming at the Abbotsford Recreation Centre.
More keynote speakers and sessions continue on Saturday, followed by a dance. It all wraps up with closing ceremonies on Sunday.
Read the Wednesday print edition of the Abbotsford News for more on this event.