Saint Stithians Girls’ College’s new head girl, Gabriella Fedetto, relayed her hopes and dreams for this year to the Sandton Chronicle.
Fedetto believes that the most important qualities one can showcase as a leader are humility and resilience. “Leadership often requires you to be confident and outspoken, and so humility is incredibly valuable. You have to ensure that younger pupils know to be humble in their triumphs and not boastful.”
Her three main goals are to encourage acceptance, transformation, and wellbeing. She said that acceptance means embracing the cultures and identities of all members of the school to promote a more comfortable and encouraging environment. “Transformation [means] allowing for open, inclusive discussion in the multiple forums offered by our school, achieving a widening of our mindsets and a greater understanding of our context.”
She stressed that one of the major values of the girls’ college involves creating an environment where the youngsters can find balance. She aims to encourage emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing to alleviate some of the pressures of high school.
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At the forefront of her values is the concept of servant leadership. “Servant leadership, to me, is all about understanding that your responsibility as a leader is, above all else, to your fellow students. It is your job to serve them, and make changes with their best interests in mind; prioritising their needs above your own sometimes.”
She believes that as a school leader, she is a representative for all pupils with a ‘duty to convey their needs to those who need to hear them.’
She also believes that servant leadership is about connecting with people. “The biggest mistake you can make is isolating yourself in your leadership role. You have to lead, yes, but leading from beside your fellow pupils is what makes everything successful.”
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Fedetto has big ideas for community service this year and, in conjunction with the school’s Students Leadership Council and Student Representative Council, she has planned numerous projects. “[We] are planning on creating a community service program, alongside our existing service projects, which would allow girls at our school the opportunity to mentor and open dialogues with primary school girls in underprivileged schools.
“This mentorship programme will largely centre around our experiences as young women in a South African context, and will be coupled with the yearlong sanitary pad drive we are running.”
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