Competition was tough last week at Washburn University, but students were not competing athletically — they were honing their leadership skills at the Leadership Challenge Event. 

Derby Student Council sent a team of 5 to the LCE from March 2-3 consisting of seniors Thu Le, Lynn Tran and Emily Bui, junior Abigail Kuhn and sophomore Maggie Elliott. 

Through a simulated crisis situation, high school and college teams from across the country worked to improve their teamwork skills while solving a major community issue. This year’s simulation followed a low-income community as it faced the repercussions of a fire at a local grocery store. 

As a team, the competitors spent two days learning about leadership and solving this issue at the Washburn University Leadership Institute.

“I learned that there are multiple moving parts to solving real world problems,” Elliott said. “There are little details that have to be considered.”

As a culmination of their efforts in the simulation, each team created a poster presentation with their ideas and plans for the event. They used these to compete along with judging throughout the day based on their teamwork and communication skills, which were a major emphasis of the program. 

“My favorite part of LCE was bonding and working with my teammates,” Elliott said. 

Derby has been bringing teams to the LCE since 2014, although no teams were sent to the 2021 competition. 

“For my first time being a part of LCE, it was a great experience and I would definitely do it all over again,” Elliott said.