London’s first Global Student Leadership Summit kicks off

More than 2,000 youth and educators from around the world are in London this week for the first ever Global Student Leadership Summit (GSLS).

The summit is being billed as the first “truly large-scale, international, multi-day leadership summit” to be held at the London Convention Centre.

“When we looked at where we wanted to put the very first conference, we found that London was the best and most logical choice,” said conference chair Stu Saunders.

Students packed inside the convention centre Monday for the GSLS opening ceremonies.

“A ton of our keynote speakers actually came here because they wanted to teach these kids about the importance of good attitude,” said Saunders.

“A large portion of them even waived their speaking fees just to be a part of this conference,” he said.

The GSLS will feature over 40 world-class speakers, interactive workshops and peer collaboration.

One such speaker is St. Thomas native Ian Tyson, who tells 980 CFPL he was attracted to the event after years of teaching students the importance of positivity.

“I lost a parent at a young age, and that was certainly a pivotal moment in my life, but it’s helped me to learn how to overcome obstacles,” said Tyson.

“I’ve used that experience and many others to teach kids how to overcome obstacles, which in turn, is what attracted me to this event,” he said.

Dr. Sean Stephenson, a motivational speaker who was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, otherwise known as brittle bone disease, opened the ceremony with a message to “follow your passion.” 

“Like Dr. Stephenson, I too believe you need to follow what you want,” said Tyson.

“These kids aren’t just the leaders of tomorrow, but are leaders right now. If we can get them to find their passion and learn to follow it, well that’s where big change in the world will come from,” he said.

This year’s event runs from April 9-11. Stu Saunders says next year, he hopes it will become annual or bi-annual and grow to 4,000 students.