DUBLIN, Ga. — Students at Hillcrest Elementary, the LEAP School, are leading their classmates by mimicking the behavior of their role models.
LEAP stands for Leadership, Environmental Awareness and Public Service.
As a Leader in Me school, staff and faculty are teaching students habits that are meant to help equip them with the life skills that will turn them into leaders.
Third grader Bra'nyah Andrews said the seven habits her school teaches her are:
- Be proactive
- Begin with the end in mind
- Put first things first
- Think win-win
- Seek first to understand, then be understood
- Synergize
- Sharpen the saw
"To me, what makes a great leader is following expectations and listening to the teacher," 9-year-old Kamillah Bowens said.
Hillcrest Elementary celebrated "Leader in Me Day" on March 27.
The adults' examples are setting in so well now the tables have turned.
"Kids may not always tell on themselves, but kids will always tell on adults," Principal Sherrell Edmond said.
She elaborated and said that as much as the staff and faculty hold the students accountable, the kids are now returning the favor.
"They're watching our every move," Edmond said. "That's why we have to make sure at all times we're modeling, exemplifying what it means to be a good person, and what it just means to be a good leader naturally."
The principal said she's noticed students making sure to check on their teachers daily.
Edmond said they even make sure they're drinking water and getting their steps in.
The principal said her students are tested at the beginning of the school year and get quarterly checkups on their skills.
They set "wildly important goals" or WIGS for themselves, which can be personal and academic.
"One of our academic goals is to focus on reading, that's our biggest thing in Kindergarten learning how to read," Katheryn Mullis said. "Our curriculum has 16 decodable readers, so that's kinda our goal for them, to finish the 16 decodable readers by the end of the year."
Decodable reader books are focused on phonics, Mullis said.
Her kindergarteners have marked their progress with butterflies on flowers numbered 1 through 16.
The butterflies have the student's name and they sit on one of those flowers, depending on how many books they've read.
Ka'oirhee Webb is one of Mullis' students who's completed that goal before the school year ends!
"We have a board about our reading, and I finished all of my books," Ka'oirhee proudly said. "I don't even have any more books left!"
Hillcrest is teaching them that the greatest leaders are readers, compassionate, and leading by example.
Congratulations, Hillcrest Elementary, the LEAP School, on being our School of the Week!
If you want to feature your Central Georgia School, you can reach out to fabrar1@13wmaz.com.