East Grand Rapids — Once a month, behind closed doors in a conference room at Lakeside Elementary, a cadre of students convenes to tackle the big questions facing the school.
Questions like: What should we watch on movie day? How can Lakeside give back to its community? What are some new spirit day themes the school can implement?
“This is a little crazy,” cautions fifth-grader Romy Riksen before offering a suggestion in a recent meeting, “but it’s called ‘Anything But a Backpack Day.’ You bring anything but a backpack to school to carry your stuff.”
Cheers of support erupt from the 12 second- through fifth-graders who make up the Leading Lions student leadership committee, named after the school’s mascot.
The group’s purpose is manifold: to build leadership skills, boost confidence, and to “include student voice in the decisions we’re making here at school,” said Principal Jennafer Slanger, who oversees the committee.
Romy’s suggestion and several others will be taken by student representatives back to their respective classrooms to gauge the attitudes of their classmates. The committee will regroup later to make a decision based on that input.
‘I thought it would be a really good opportunity to decide a bunch of stuff at school, and to be one of the biggest leaders.’
— fifth-grader Landry Gent
Yes, like the Founding Fathers many generations before them, the Leading Lions are a pivotal piece of the democratic system at Lakeside.
“This is what George Washington did when he became president!” second-grader Teddy Schmidt proclaimed about the group’s work.
Diplomacy in Action
There’s room for constructive criticism in the group, too. In fact, it’s encouraged.
For instance, Teddy suggested that the school consider adopting a literal interpretation of its motto, “Kindness counts.”
“Can we do a day where kindness counts on your grade?” Teddy asked, looking expectantly as his fellow representatives, who quickly articulated why that idea might not work.
“But you’re supposed to be kind all the time,” noted third-grader Gretta Russel, as the rest of the group nodded in agreement.
Slanger loves the group’s capacity for self-correction and regulation.
“I try to open it up to the table to teach them to speak up when they’re like, ‘Ehh, I don’t know if I like that idea,’ or ‘That might not work,’” she said.
Diplomatically and respectfully disagreeing with peers is a skill that will serve students well, said Slanger, both now and in the future.
A Variety of Strengths
Students are selected for the group by their teachers each year, with the understanding that there is a time commitment to being a Leading Lion, since meetings sometimes cut into recess time.
That sacrifice is worth it to members of the group, like fifth-grader Landry Gent and third-grader Ryan Kim, who said they joined because they wanted to make an impact.
“I thought it would be a really good opportunity to decide a bunch of stuff at school, and to be one of the biggest leaders,” said Landry.
“In second grade my friend was a Leading Lion,” Ryan said. “I thought it was really cool, and I wanted to be one too.”
Ryan’s favorite part of being in the group is “thinking and brainstorming,” while Landry’s is “making big decisions” for events like the Veterans Day assembly, when the group elected to read a poem in honor of the nation’s military.
Slanger, who came to Lakeside in August, led a similar group when she was the student support coordinator at Lowell Area Schools. She helped implement the program at Lowell, but Leading Lions was already in place when she came to East Grand Rapids.
So far, she said working with the group has been “powerful.”
“It’s been very warming to my heart to see them come out of their shells and try hard things and be brave and accomplish things,” Slanger said. “And seeing those leadership skills come out. … We have a variety of strengths on our team, so to be able to see students learning from each other’s strengths has been very eye-opening.”
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