Student Leaders Help to Establish School Culture
April 14, 2009 - Wake County educators have been putting older students to work realizing the impact these students have on sharing the school culture and offering advice to the younger students at their schools.
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At Cary High, the IMPact mentoring class uses seniors to work with freshmen on the topic of selecting classes and making good choices for their future.
Assistant Principal Elaine Rogers says teachers work with the seniors to prepare them for meeting weekly with freshmen and discussing a series of topics.
“They usually have two or three weeks to plan their lessons and their activities so they go into those IMPact classes with a lesson plan basically in place and so it gives them a lot of leadership and a lot of responsibility,” said Rogers. “So that has been a great experience for them as well as the underclassmen.”
In one class, Cary High senior Kate Langdon explained the plan she had sketched to help her determine the classes to take and the skills she wanted to develop at high school as she prepared for college.
“I think it will help the underclassmen because it shows them that there’s someone whose been through all this and someone that has had the problems that they had and had to register for classes, said Langdon. “Since I’ve been through all the stuff, I think it helps them to see someone who has been successful throughout high school and someone that they can kind of take advice from and use as an example of how to achieve in high school.”
The freshmen in the class agreed that her perspective was helpful. One said it helped her understand the importance of signing up for foreign language instruction. Another said it was helpful to hear from someone closer to her own age.
“It helps me a lot,” said freshman My’shaun Fogg. “It helps us know what we have to do, how to sign up for our classes and stuff like that.”
Early College Honor Society Students
Other WCPSS schools have found different ways to encourage student leadership.
At the Wake Early College for Health and Science, assistant principal James di Carlo says the National Honor Society is an active organization. di Carlo says the student members set standards for behavior and service. He praised the students for setting a tone for school in the way they dress and in the way they treat others. He said they directly help others by tutoring.
“As their service requirement, members must perform a minimum of 60 hours of community service of which 30 of these must be in National Honor Society-sanctioned events, including afterschool tutoring,” said di Carlo. “They have a set of guidelines to follow and a standard to uphold as National Honor Society members and the eldest members of the school.”
At Centennial Campus Middle School, a number of eighth graders serve as ambassadors to sixth and seventh-grade ELL students, providing friendship and tutorial help to acclimate these students to the school. A summer leadership camp is available where rising seventh and eighth-graders mentor rising sixth-graders and help show new students the Centennial Leadership Model. Last year 97 students attended the camp. The numbers are expected to double this year. A Leadership elective has also been introduced this year where students are actively trained and involved in mentoring others. Students work off an agenda and make a real world difference in the school and the community. Currently the class is working to aid a homeless shelter in Raleigh.
The middle school has strengthened its connections with one of its elementary feeder schools. On Read across America Day, eight sixth graders visited their former school, Conn Elementary and spent the morning reading Dr. Seuss books aloud to elementary students.
A connection has been built between Garner High and Aversboro Elementary. On Fridays, a group of Garner High students take part in Communities in Schools tutoring of Aversboro students.
At Aversboro, older students help younger students in a book buddy program. The older students listen and sometimes read to the younger students.
At Reedy Creek Elementary, teacher Lynnette Jurgensen says it has been very beneficial to send fifth graders to mentor younger students to set a good example and be positive role models.
“Our Fifth Graders have the privilege of helping our younger students once a week,” said Jurgensen. “Our students assist our Kindergarten and First Grade friends with center work, tutoring, or simply reading with the younger students.”
One result of the connection says Jurgensen is that the Kindergarteners and First Graders look up to older students and enjoy seeing them around the school campus.
Panther Ambassadors at Vance
At Vance Elementary, fifth graders help facilitate daily jobs around the school.
Principal Don Rose says a fifth grade student is in the lobby each morning to greet the incoming students and families.
“These Panther Ambassadors help with car riders in the morning and afternoon, opening car doors and making sure students are safely in the car,” said Rose. “These jobs have allowed our fifth graders to show character traits through responsibility and good judgment.”
Students are assigned other tasks, some as simple as making sure the computers in the school computer lab are up and running in the morning and powered down in the afternoon. Others help the specials teachers get the art and music classrooms ready for students.
Science Buddies at Fuquay-Varina
At Fuquay-Varina Elementary upper grade students serve as science buddies with kindergarten and first grade students. The older students lead the younger students through a hands-on science lesson that is based on a science objective for the lower grades. Together the students conduct an experiment, make observations, analyze, and record their findings in science notebooks. The lesson may be an extension from a lesson the classroom teacher provided earlier in the week. The Science buddies strategy was developed by the Fuquay-Varina Elementary School Improvement Plan Science Goal Committee to emphasize the importance of science at the lower grades. Members of the committee develop the activities which are designed to excite all students about science.
At East Garner Middle School, student leaders have been tapped as global ambassadors who help explain the school’s magnet theme as an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. The global ambassadors visit elementary magnet schools with the International Baccalaureate theme and meet with perspective students when they tour the middle school.
Character Critters at Briarcliff
Briarcliff Elementary has the Character Critter Club. School Counselor Virgninia Enzor says it’s a character education initiative designed to teach character education to younger students.
“Trained pairs of readers and costumed critters who are fifth graders visit our first grade classes each month to read stories and facilitate discussions about WCPSS character traits,” said Enzor. “Critters also make appearances at school-wide events. The peer approach provides an interactive and engaging delivery of character education instruction.
Briarcliff educators and students presented the idea at the NC Department of Public Instruction 2009 Safe Schools and Character Education Conference.
At Holly Ridge Elementary, fifth graders serve as TechKnow Tutors who work in the computer lab on a regular basis. Technology teacher Sandee Smith says the students assist younger ones and circulate during technology lessons, teaching one-on-one how to use the Activboard, cleaning computers and encouraging good behavior.
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