We’ve been busy this November and December so far, and one of the things we love to make extra special time for is honoring our South Park & North Park Elementary Broncs for being great leaders in our schools! Elementary students were nominated and celebrated as Students of the Month on Thursday, December 2nd, for being great role models and excellent examples of what leaders can be in our school throughout the month of November!
In the Belle Fourche School District, we pride ourselves in providing each and every student the confidence and opportunities to shine as active leaders both inside and outside of the classroom, building the essential skills that will help them succeed in both the present and future as lifelong learners and leaders who build both themselves and others up!
To help students understand what it means to be a leader, the importance of being a leader for both ourselves and others, and to recognize that they each possess unique strength and abilities to be a leader, students in the Belle Fourche Elementary buildings this year have been participating in an online program called Leader in Me, and this is our second month now of recognizing some of the students that have been specifically showing the skills that align with our online leadership program called Leader in Me! This is a program practiced each school day to help our young Bronc students develop mindsets, skills and behaviors that can help them succeed both inside and outside of school through studying and practicing seven foundational habits that will help students to develop their personal effectiveness to guide them on the road to happiness and help them lead the changes that will make the world a better place.
The seven effective habits that our schools work to helps students build to be great leaders and role models include:
Even at the very beginning of our assembly this month, we were proud to showcase our best leadership skills, not just with recognizing our nominated monthly leaders, but also through acts of students helping with the assembly itself! Using Habit #6 of synergizing and working together, we are so very proud that many Bronc students helped guide other students to where their classes were to sit during the assembly, using signs that they hand-made in order to help guide their fellow students effectively.
Our student leadership abilities did not stop there either, as we even had South Park student volunteers help read off the names and leadership skills of the nominated leaders of the month, as those students came to the front to receive their recognition, leader medal, and certificate!
Not only did we recognize some of our South Park leaders from each grade, but one North Park Elementary student leader was also nominated and celebrated on December 2nd for demonstrating overall leadership abilities in alignment with our seven Leader in Me habits! Our North Park kindergarten leader celebrated this month at our assembly for the month of November was Oaklnn Pickett!
We are so proud of our South and North Park leaders for demonstrating these foundational habits in ways that best fit their unique strengths, and we rewarded this month’s leaders with not only their own leader medal and certificates, but also a gift certificate for a free meal at Applebee’s!
We also recognize that each and every student is working hard on honing their skills in leadership, and to reward them for their hard work and to continue to inspire our elementary students, we brought in a very special and inspirational group to join us on a later day to help support and motivate our young Broncs: We invited on December 4th a non-profit percussion group called Sheltered Reality to perform a variety of upbeat songs with inspirational and real-life stories that teach our students to be their best selves both for themselves and in advocacy of others through themes of never giving up, taking a chance, and spreading positivity, kindness, and setting an example as a great leader wherever students are!
The students and staff of both South Park and North Park Elementary got together in South Park’s gymnasium on December 4th, and had a blast as some staff and students got to join on stage to help perform pieces of the inspirational show through music and dance, while other students and staff cheered, danced, and sang along in the audience to familiar pop music lyrics that inspire positivity, kindness, and the drive to follow your dreams!
We thank Sheltered Reality for taking the time to visit our excited elementary Bronc student leaders, to help motivate them to continue to work together with Bronc staff and peers to be their best selves, to keep being amazing leaders inside and outside of school – and we thank Sheltered Reality for providing an important reminder to choose positivity over negativity, and that teach everyone that doing good can, and should, be fun! We know our students left the light show finale of the assembly knowing that even through dark or hard times, we can shine through, bright & empowered for both ourselves and for others!
We thank inspiring organizations like Sheltered Reality, and all of our Belle Fourche families, school staff, hardworking students, and community organizations and programs, that all come together to help provide students the opportunities, tools, and skills they need to help our students be their best selves and live their best, successful lives! We also very much look forward to next month’s South Park and North Park Leader in Me assemblies to continue to honor our hard working, young Broncs in their ongoing progress in building essential leadership skills to help them be their best selves.
Way to go South Park & North Park Broncs for being such wonderful leaders, and for continuing to build those skills each month; keep up the great work!
Check out our video to see just what a blast we had with Sheltered Reality:
For more information about Sheltered Reality and their motivational messages and shows, please visit at: https://www.sheltered-reality.org/