Out of tragedy, sometimes comes amazing GOODness.
That’s what students at Wilton High School will find when they are introduced to “Rachel’s Challenge” tomorrow, Tuesday Dec. 9.
Rachel’s Challenge is a national organization that was inspired by the life and writing of Rachel Scott, who was the first student killed in the 1999 school shooting tragedy at Columbine. According to the organization’s website, it has created a program that encourages kindness and compassion in school communities, focused on “creating safe, connected school environments [to]… motivate and equip students to start and sustain a chain reaction of kindness and compassion that transforms schools and communities.”
The program is being implemented at WHS thanks to the impetus of one student, senior Julia Davatzes, who learned about it at a leadership program she participated in as a sophomore.
“One of the organizations that came there was Rachel’s Challenge. I was very moved by it and thought it was something our school could definitely benefit from,” Davatzes says.
She brought the idea to school administrators and worked over the last year worked to bring details together. Coincidentally, the plan was in the works before this past September, when two swastikas were found in the high school, negatively impacting the school community and causing some students and parents to be very concerned.
“Julia happens to be in my advisory,” says WHS associate principal Richard Sanzo. “We were able to support [the Rachel’s Challenge idea] with time and financially this year, and we’re excited to bring it. It’s timely in light of the events that happened earlier in the year.”
Acknowledging that she’s not speaking for the entire student body, Davatzes offered a student’s perspective on the post-swastika environment at WHS, noting that she believes the Rachel’s Challenge program will be effective no matter what.
“I think we were all impacted by it, but it definitely doesn’t reflect the student body as a whole. This program, I think students will attach to, but also it being very close to the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting; also we had a presentation earlier in the year from Chris Herren, which made a lot of the students think about how they’re going to live their lives. I think that this program will very much reinforce that more than anything else,” she says.
Intentional Acts of Kindness–Not Random
So, what are the teachings of the program?
“The basic principle is focusing on intentional acts of kindness to build a culture of caring, compassionate and kind individuals across the school community–students and adults. They talk about a chain reaction–the idea that if I do something nice for you, that you will take that, internalize that and continue that on. Very simple, small intentional acts, when all added up as a whole, really do have a substantial impact on the community,” Sanzo explains.
He says part of it is the perspective–sort of like changing the school lens to help change the school culture.
“They also focus on shining the light on the positive. It’s easy to talk about what we do to stop bullying and to change that negative behavior. But sometimes we focus on the wrong thing, and we can focus on all of the good works that our kids are doing and continue to do.”
Davatzes echoes this thinking.
“The program really emphasizes that idea that kindness is a very active thing. It’s not the absence of being mean, or just stopping bullying [that’s] going to help the kids sitting in the corner of the lunchroom. It makes the presentation very different from other ones we’ve heard.”
There will be an all-school assembly Tuesday morning, with a presentation from someone at the Rachel’s Challenge organization to launch the program. Then, later that afternoon, about 100 students who have been tapped to take lead roles will attend a leadership training session. There will be a club called “Friends of Rachel” that will then exist in the school, creating and running events and activities that promote a kinder school culture.
“They’ll be starting acts of kindness that are more intentional, not random acts. But to really plan out something that will improve morale and the spirit, making everyone feel a part of the school,” explains math teacher Cindy Cherico, one of the club’s advisors, along with Kim Zemo, WHS social worker and civic and social instructional leader. “By intentionally doing that, and having people who are really set out there to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to make everybody feel good today,’ it will just change the atmosphere, and make people feel involved, included, part of something and hopefully no one will feel like they’re isolated or alone in the building. They’ll all have someone who cares about them.”
The program piggy-backs on some of the continuing education the teachers have received already this year from Bill Preble, an internationally-known education professor who consults on improving school climate. One of the concepts he spoke to Wilton’s teachers about was implementing such student-led programs–and making sure that a diverse group of students were identified as key figures, setting an example and leading whatever efforts were launched rather than relying on the kids who are typically and always chosen to lead. For example, he suggested no always going back to student government officers to lead programs, but instead choose one person from each lunchroom table.
After observing a Rachel’s Challenge program in September at Enrico Fermi High School in Enfield, CT, Davatzes and the club’s faculty advisors took the same approach.
“One of the suggestions they had was to leave room for students impacted by the presentation [giving them] the opportunity to sign up for the training, for students who want to come just from connecting to what they’ve heard. That will help us as well to get a diverse cross-section of the student body,” Sanzo says. So 25 spots are reserved for spontaneous student volunteers and the other 75 students have been pre-identified 75 students to start, suggested by each of the advisors to try to capture a more diverse, cross-section of the school community.
Davatzes and the adults all hope the program takes roots and grows stronger every year for the students who follow.
“The members of the club will cross all grades. What we saw at the Enrico Fermi High School, it’s so much a part of their culture there. Whatever programs they’ve come up with, kids are excited about those things. Hopefully that will also happen here.”
On their visit to Fermi HS, they saw some programs like “Music on Fridays” or a “High Five Zone.” Whatever activities, events and programs the Wilton club will create, however, will be more organic to what fits WHS.
“We’ll have to think about it, and once the club is established we’ll have to come up with it,” Davatzes explains. “It will be something that students will be a part of, whether they’re part of the club or not.”
Cherico adds, “What will work in our school might not be what we saw at Enrico Fermi. When you have the cross section from every grade and group, hopefully some great ideas will come out of it and we just have to make them happen.”
The adults all agree that what makes this program so promising is the role the students play–starting with Davatzes’ initiative two years ago.
“It’s kind of the ideal situation an educator hopes for–a student taking the lead on making a positive change to the school community,” Sanzo says. “We want students to come to us and share with us their ideas of how we can make this a better place. It says to me that we’ve got kids that care about the school and care about the community that they’re a part of, and they want to improve it not only for themselves but Julia is a senior who is going to be leaving us in six months; she cares about what this community is going to be like even after.”
He adds that the success will depend on the other students being as supportive as Julia was eager. “This is has been a student-driven initiative from the start, but it needs to continue to be a student-driven initiative.”
There’s also an evening outreach program for the wider community the same evening–both for parents of WHS students and anyone else to attend (7th grade and above), Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m. in the WHS Little Theater. The program is co-sponsored by Wilton Youth Council.
During an interview with Wilton’s superintendent of schools Dr. Kevin Smith, he told GOOD Morning Wilton that Rachel’s Challenge was something his former district (Bethel) had participated in. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for kids to develop empathy. The team at the High School was working on that before I arrived. Broadly, I’ll be looking to take those kinds of experiences and make them coherent across the district. One of our priorities is to insure safe and positive climates in each of the school buildings, so it’s through programs like that, through systematic curriculum implementation that focuses on social skill development that you can do those types of things. I’ll be helping to connect the dots for people so they can see it’s part of a broader strategy.”
