Tears, laughs and secrets were shared between a group of student circled around each other in a trailer classroom. With the starting mindset of wanting to be a leader, students from the Spanish and Interpreters club attending the Ernie G Leadership Workshop left with a different mindset than they came with.

Led by motivational speaker and Latino comedian Ernesto Tomas Gritzewsky, also known as Ernie G, the Ernie G Leadership Workshop was created to enhance and expand the leadership skills of students. While this session aims to help whoever is attending be a better leader in any given situation, Gritzewsky also finds it as a time for the students to get to know themselves.

“My leadership workshop gets students to reveal their real, genuine, authentic self, and when you reveal that authentic self, [others] can’t help but be touched, moved and inspired, and that makes them want to share their real self,” Gritzewsky said.

The workshop started off with warm up games and icebreakers between the students. Throughout each activity, Gritzewsky watched as students became more comfortable with each other as they continued to reveal more about themselves.

“Almost every student here got in touch with what’s going on with them. It’s not just about leadership, it was about emotional intelligence. Several students started balling and sobbing and sharing their deep, dark secrets,” Gritzewsky said.

Senior Carlos Gallardos decided to attend the workshop when Spanish teacher Phil Yutzy recommended it to him. Because Gallardos is in the Interpreters club, he found the workshop as another chance to learn more leadership and social skills for when he interprets for the community. One of the things he learned from Ernie G’s advice is to not change who he is when he is leading.

“I’m going to go away with being yourself and not being fake, as [Ernie] stated it,” Gallardos said.

Finding the overall experience to be an emotional one, Spanish club leader and senior Alex Rodriguez not only learned a few things about his peers and Ernie G, but also a few things about his identity.

“I saw the part that I never showed to anybody. In different situations, we have to apply different skills… We should be proud of who we are and don’t show who we are not…I feel sometimes we need more advice about how to be better leaders,” Rodriguez said.