“I love this song!” yelled a Talahi teacher, as she came running into the gym to join the fifth graders dancing to the “Cupid Shuffle” alongside community members and Youth Frontiers, a non-profit, Minneapolis based organization that travels across the country teaching kids about character. With the start of school, principal Kate Flynn wanted to “start off on the right foot.”
Flynn, who had previously worked with the Twin Cities based organization, thought it would be a great way to kick-off a new year. “These are my fifth graders, my school leaders, what can we do to kick-off the year so they can be the leaders we know they can be and that we hope them to be? I wanted to capture them early to set the tone now. That kindness matters.”
“The goal is to bring all the kids together for one day”, stated Jean, a Youth Frontier mentor. It’s an opportunity for kids to have nothing but kindness for one whole day and to experience how easy it is to continue on with that practice every day.
The program that ran from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. was broken out into large group gatherings and small break-out group sessions. The day started with all the kids gathered together calling out “hurts” such as bullying, name calling, gossiping and fighting. From there, two topics for “base talks” were created. The morning session revolved around “Bullying Hurts” with the afternoon session highlighting “Everyday Heroes”.
The idea that it takes a village to raise a child wasn’t missed with this program. Special thanks to the Talahi staff for reaching out to the fifteen community volunteers including: parents, PTA members, Promise Neighborhood and the Reading Corp who participated as leaders of the small group sessions. Each group had 5 to 6 5th grade students to discuss the two base topics and how they can each make an impact in their school.
When the fifth graders were brought back together towards the end of the day, student volunteers were asked to stand up in front of their peers to give a pledge to their fellow students that they would do their best to include all students, respect adults, be leaders and to be kind, caring, stunning, inclusive human beings.