Mountain Lion Ambassadors, Building Leaders for a Lifetime

After a particularly difficult day at school, I could feel myself starting to question whether or not I still love my job. As I began my commute, I decided to turn off the radio and spend the 45-minute drive home in quiet self-reflection. I realized that the majority of my interactions throughout the day had been with our students who struggle the most. Some of those were students who meet with me regularly to address behavior issues, while others were visiting me because of a fight or classroom outburst. I started to realize that a small portion of my student body often consumed the majority of my day. And when most of your day is focused on negative behaviors… It’s easy to start seeing the whole school in a negative light.

As the principal of a school with an at risk population, our students have been exposed to things that impact their decision-making. Some of our students are currently living in a domestic violence shelter, and have witnessed some pretty extreme behaviors from the adults in their lives. In order to curb some of the negative behaviors in my building, I have several kids on contracts. When they reach their goals, they often get some sort of prize or reward. It’s usually something very small, but it can be hard for some of our other students to see the kids that don’t always behave in class come back from the principal’s office with a prize.

I started thinking… “So what about the best kids in my building? Why wasn’t there a built in reward system for those kids who were always doing what was expected, the ones who you could count on at all times to represent your school and act as an example to everyone else in the building? Didn’t those kids deserve an opportunity to meet with the principal regularly and set goals to help them grow and achieve even more?”

It was those very questions that led to the creation of a new kind of school leadership program.

Implementation

In a school-wide meeting, I introduced the Mountain Lion Ambassador School Leadership Program and invited all 4th through 6th graders to come to an after-school information meeting. I also sent a letter home with each student explaining the program, and encouraging students to find out more about how they can become an ambassador for our school.

During the information meeting, I spoke with the students about the power that our brains have to grow and change. I also explained that having a growth mindset does not only apply to learning in the classroom, but also with our attitudes, habits, and behaviors. Mountain Lion Ambassadors must be able to accurately self reflect on their work and social skills, set goals to push themselves, and commit to continual growth and life long learning. Students who were interested were required to fill out an application which included an essay on how being a Mountain Lion Ambassador would help them grow, a rating scale filled out by their teacher, and a self reflection based on the Raikes Foundation report on Student Agency Practices.

After a rigorous selection process, 21 students were selected to serve as ambassadors and participate in weekly classes to push them to become the best that they can be. Each Monday, these amazing students stay after school for one hour to meet with the principal and learn about important skills based on Ron Clark’s Essential 55. These lessons include topics from how to respond appropriately to an adult by using complete sentences, to every possible etiquette rule when eating in a public setting. Our goal is to create students that would absolutely shine in any setting, and be a model of manners, respect, and dignity at home, at school, or out in the community.

Ambassadors are also rewarded for the lessons they master. For example, as a culminating activity after the etiquette lessons, these students are invited out to dinner for a meal at a fancy restaurant where the servers and manager are asked to score our students based on the skills we had been working on. Students must look the server in the eyes while ordering, speak clearly, and always say please and thank you. Afterwards, the restaurant staff will talk to them about what they did well and give them feedback on things that they need to improve.

Results

Our Ambassadors are truly taking these lessons to heart and it shows. Parents are noticing the difference it is making for their children as well. I have had countless parents mention that their children are sharing the lessons with their families at home. They are taking more initiative to do things and to recognize when others are doing things for them. Teachers are noticing that they are using the respectful transition phrases that they have learned when making comments in class. These students are becoming the model of everything it means to be Majestic Mountain Lions. They are Polite, Responsible, Independent, Disciplined, and Empowered to make good choices, which are skills that will serve them throughout their entire lives!

Next Steps

We will continue to build the Mountain Lion Ambassador Program at Majestic Elementary. Recently, the Jordan Education Foundation awarded us a $1,000 grant and vowed to find additional community partners in order to provide our students with even more opportunities to shine throughout the community.