Principal Leah Jessee, 5th Street Elementary teachers, personnel, and student leaders welcomed a range of community professionals from Jasper to The Leader In Me Day on Tuesday morning.
5th Street Elementary students were responsible to guide guests throughout the day with the help of their teachers who worked with them to showcase the school’s current achievements from implementing the Leader in Me skills in their everyday learning.
The leader in Me initiative serves the purpose of teaching 21st century leadership and life skills to students and creates a culture of student empowerment based on the idea that every child can be a leader.
5th Street Student Leaders Kendall Corbin and Reese Weisheit describe the Leader in Me Day at their school and their role in providing this type of experience for the community leaders of Jasper.
Weisheit is in 1st grade and his favorite leadership habit learned is habit #6 Synergize as he explains its about helping each other and working together. Corbin is in 2nd grade and her favorite habit is #3 Put First Things First.
Both were assigned to be leaders as they have shown awareness of all 7 habits that include: habit #1 be proactive, #2 Begin with the End in Mind, #3 Put First Things First, #4 Think Win-Win, #5 Seek First to Understand then to be Understood, #6 Synergize, and finally habit #7 Sharpen the Saw.
Local Jasper community guests ranged from areas such as education, finance, government, non-profit, PTO parents, entrepreneurs, business owners, media, health, and much more.
5th Street Elementary Social Worker, Heather Goodhue, talks about the positive response from the local leaders experience for this innovative approach to leadership habits.
This program began last year and as the Parent Teacher Organization spearheaded the support with a $5,000 donation last year during the summer of 2015 the school was able to begin their journey with a four day training for all teachers and staff. Also with a $75,000 grant through Old National Bank Foundation and Dubois County Community Foundation the school was able to launch the Leader in Me program.
Principal Jessee elaborates on the long term goal to continue a lasting effect for their students.
The schools timeline started with year 1 from 2015-2016 to establish a culture of leadership, then year 2 from 2016-2017 will focus on applying tools of leadership, and year 3 2017-2018 they intent to maximize results. Teachers and staff have expressed that they look forward to more years with this initiative’s development and impact.
To learn more about the leader in me program navigate to www.theleaderinme.org
