Vicenza Middle School holds Leadership Lock-In
VICENZA, Italy – Vicenza Middle School recently held a Leadership Lock-in as a service project by the Junior Leadership Seminar (JLS) students. JLS is a weeklong middle school leadership event in Germany, where 150 students from across DoWEA Europe are selected to represent their schools. Each day, students learn new aspects of leadership and are challenged to collaborate through projects and hands-on activities. At the end of the seminar, each school comes together to decide which initiatives they will bring back to their community as a result of their experiences at the Junior Leadership Seminar.
JLS students from Vicenza Middle School worked from December 2025 through April 2026 to design and facilitate the Leadership Lock-in involving over 50 students.
Arwa B., 7th Grader and one of the Vicenza JLS attendees, described the steps in planning the Leadership Lock-in: “The JLS group started by deciding which leadership skills we wanted to highlight, like communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. Then we brainstormed activities and challenges that would let students practice those skills in a hands-on way. We organized everything into a schedule, assigned roles, and made sure each part of the lock-in was engaging and inclusive.”
The JLS students developed creative ideas including general sessions about leadership skills, engaging interest sessions such as a toilet paper wrapping competition and an escape room, and early morning wake-up activities to get the students energized.
Another member of JLS, 8th Grader Amelie Sansone, stated that, “I hope that after attending the Leadership Lock-In, students would take the skills they learned, such as empathy, collaboration, motivation, and communication, and use them in classrooms when they work together with other peers. I think that even if they don’t remember a single leadership vocabulary word we taught them, as long as they remember how it felt to work under different circumstances, and are able to apply them in the real world, we did our job.”
When asked what the most rewarding part of creating and facilitating the Leadership Lock-in was, 7th Grader Amelia Gennero described her experiences: “Facilitating the lock-in was a rewarding way to teach and inspire others while having fun. Ultimately, the lock-in proved that leadership requires commitment and engagement. It's a perfect platform for anyone ready to grow and help others shine brighter in leadership.”
The Vicenza JLS students wanted to share their experiences from Germany, while offering the same sense of community they felt while at the Seminar. By creating a supportive environment where students felt safe stepping out of their comfort zone, the Leadership Lock-in successfully encouraged students to take what they learned into their daily lives, fostering a strong foundation for leadership in and out of the school environment.
