The National Student Council

Leadership Conference has existed for 14 years. Each year delegates from all over the nation gather together in Denver, Colorado, to learn phases of leadership to pass on to their schools and communities.

During the week's stay at Camp Cheley, delegates are bombarded with new ideas, thought processes, but most of all with new questions. Said one director, "What are your convictions? The strength of a nation lies in its convictions; the strength of an individual lies in his convictions. Will your convictions tie a strong line of continuity from you, the individual, to larger groups? What are the enduring elements of any civilization on if they are not freedom, honor, and justice?"

Still more questions were asked that made each delegate search his soul to find the answers. "Who am I? Who are you, anyway? Look out over the magnificence

of the mountains think of the breadth of this continent, the width of the world. You think you're something? You know you are. You are YOU, and there is no one else in this world like you-not anywhere."

Keynote speakers highlighted the week's activities. Perhaps the most inspirational was Libor Brom, an escapee from communist Czechoslovakia. "Think big, live bigger; have a dream; believe in the dignity of the individual, justice, and God." Such ideas as these were encompassed in his speech.

The experiences of Cheley were dynamic and significant. Perhaps the words of Reinhold Niebuhr catch the spirit of the conference:

Oh, God, give us
Serenity to accept what cannot be changed,
And wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.