About 70 students from four Jesuit schools – Belvedere College, Clongowes Wood College, Coláiste Iognáid and Crescent College Comprehensive – participated in the first ever MAGIS Student Leadership Conference in Tullamore Court Hotel, Co. Offaly, on 26 October 2022. The event included an opening talk by John K. Guiney SJ, Director of Irish Jesuits International, as well as three workshops throughout the day and round-table discussions. Aifric Keogh, Olympic bronze medalist and Coláiste Iognáid graduate, also gave a talk on the importance of resilience and perseverance. Below, Belvedere College students reflect on their experience of the conference. 

MAGIS Student Leadership Conference 2022 

The event was well organized and was split into 45 minute workshops and seminars. The day contained many inspirational guest speakers and engaging group discussions allowing us to reflect on ourselves and then explore our views and attitudes with others. 

One workshop that stood out was the topic of Change Theory. The main outcome was that a collaborative working together can put pressure on politicians to take action and therefore can achieve more significant results than individual actions. Through the far stronger efforts of a unified group, we can then incite “System Change” and help tackle injustices in the world. 

Hidden World Problems 

Another interesting seminar talked about forgotten crises still happening around the world. We learned that the invasion of Ukraine has drawn the full attention of the media resulting in other issues with human rights being overshadowed. Due to Ukraine’s higher political standing, their issues are getting broadcasted over smaller nations that don’t get the recognition they deserve. There are tragedies taking place at the moment in countries such as Tigray, Yemen and Darfur which are practically unheard of in today’s generation. These conflicts don’t attract any media attention and the people affected don’t receive much assistance. As Jesuit students it is our responsibility to shine light on these issues and to help those in need who are often forgotten about. 

We also became aware that media outlets such as newspapers can be influenced by powerful shareholders causing reports to contain bias or exclude certain pieces of important information that the owner does not wish to be included. We were given two objective resources: Media Ownership Ireland » and  Irish Jesuits International » 

Concepts of Leadership 

The last seminar we attended was on leadership. Everyone in the room had differing views on what leadership is. Some believed that it means having power whilst others believed that it means to serve the masses and desires of the people. However, we arrived at the realisation that being a leader means making a difference and inspiring others to go far by setting a good example. In the words of Pope Francis: “Be men and women with others and for others: true champions at the service of others.” 

These three workshops tied together nicely under the topic of leadership and helped us understand the meaning of attending a Jesuit school. It enabled us to conclude what attitude good leaders should have and what we can change to improve the Student Council in Belvedere.