More than a week after a national leadership conference and four Prince George students are still bursting with energy and ideas from the Halifax event.
"I wish we could go again," said Lisa Russell to a chorus of "Yeah's" from Cynthia Lu, Sakshi Satish and Jillian Nielsen.
The four College Height secondary students returned last week from the Canadian Student Leadership Association's 31st annual event, which had more than 1,000 students.
It wasn't just the inspirational experience the four share: all are in Grade 12, all are 17, and perhaps most importantly, all are in Cindy Smith's leadership class.
"It's a support network but it's also an idea tank," said Smith of the event.
"They get to take all the ideas they have and share them with others. They get new ideas and every idea that they share is a new person that they've included in their network. Now they have a phone full of contacts from kids across the country."
None had ever travelled to Atlantic Canada, and along with the Halifax conference in Nova Scotia, ticked off visits to New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island before attending the five days chock full of speakers and workshops, all around leadership.
"It was also unique for these guys because when they're with a thousand kids on the same page... all these ideas that are just bubbling and erupting to be shared," Smith said.
On Monday, the girls were still full of energy and finishing each other's sentences as they tried to put into words what they learned.
"We learned to celebrate leadership. We also generated different ideas..." said Satish, followed shortly by Russell, "(like) how we can help in our communities and globally too."
"We learned not to limit ourselves," added Nielsen. "If we have an idea, we should just go for it and not let other's opinions stop that."
"I feel like leadership has really pushed me out of my comfort zone and I've had so many opportunities because of this that I never would have had."
The others nodded in agreement.
Nielsen didn't used to see herself as a leader, and Smith has already seen a difference in her demeanor since returning to school.
At the schools Terry Fox run, Smith saw Nielsen front and centre encouraging others in a way she hadn't before.
"We already see growth and development and passion in what they do," Smith said.
Those lessons will valuable when College Heights hosts the Northern Student Leadership conference in April.
"I feel more confident," Lu said.
All agreed the highlight was keynote speaker Kathy Buckley, a comedian and writer who spoke about her experience being deaf, surviving and almost fatal crash and forgiving her father's sexual abuse.
She was "so passionate," said Nielsen.
"I was almost crying," Nielsen added.
"The whole room was so affected by her."
Smith said she thinks events like this create more opportunities for her students.
"It opens doors and they can decide which one to go through. They can discover their passions or be totally made aware of new things out there that they hadn't even thought of as a possibility."
She's coined a phrase that gets to the essence what she hopes her students take away.
"What's leadership, guys? What do I always say?" Smith asked.
"It's not a class, it's a lifestyle," Satish answered. "The great thing about leadership is everyone brings something to the table."
