An introduction to Laker Pride

 

    At Skaneateles Middle School, one of our important goals is to make our students better people in order to be successful in life. We hope to give our students a sense of pride and accomplishment in a job well done, not only academically, but socially  as well. We value a well rounded individual who is not only interested in learning to the best of his or her ability, but who is also sensitive to the needs of the people in the school, the community and in the world. This philosophy is reflected in our mission statements. If you were to examine the District, Middle School and Laker Pride Mission Statements the principals of quality academics and positive character development are highly regarded.

    Our character education program specifically targets certain character traits that develop individuals of integrity who hopefully earn the respect of their peers in a positive way. Promoting integrity within the student body results in a better educational experience for all. Our goal is to encourage our student to “think outside the box” and to realize that the world includes people and places in crisis, and that reaching out to them can be a rewarding experience. We are not all alike nor do we face the same challenges.

    Character education at the Middle School has been a grass roots movement involving faculty, students, parents and administrators since the spring of 1999. Central to the success of our character education program is the eighteen-minute homebase period at the beginning of each day.

    Staff members supervise a total of 44 homebases for our 450 Middle School students. There are about 10 students per homebase and this low teacher— student ratio enables the adults to establish close relationships with the kids, entertain in-depth discussions on a variety of issues, and work on community service projects.

    The Middle School implements character education through a structured program called Laker Pride. The Laker Pride committee is comprised of faculty members from each grade level, staff members, administrators, parents and students. Every month there is a new character trait and time is set aside during a specific day each month to discuss the character trait. The homebase teachers are provided with ideas on how to show, accomplish or creatively display the characteristic. Communication with the entire staff and the community is key to the success and continued support of the program. A good example of this communication can be seen in our Halloween efforts of the last 2 years. With the drive of the student body and the help of the community our Middle School raised over $7,500.00 for the an ICU bed at the Gulisano Children’s Hospital. We had a speaker from the community and a speaker from the hospital that let our students know how badly such a facility in this area is needed. Between the PTC, newsletters sent home with students, local coverage by the Skaneateles Press and the Post Standard communication is excellent. This is also a good example of a school wide community service project.

    Community service does not necessarily mean raising money. Homebases have visited nursing homes to sing or play games, cleaned parks, helped at local churches and food pantries, spent time at the elementary school reading to the kindergarteners, written to our service men or veterans. Monies have been raised for SAVES, the Red Cross, The ASPCA, the American Cancer Society and Vera House just  to name a few. These individual project give the studdents a sense of pride and knowledge of things going on in the world that may not be apparent to them.

   We hope this has given you a sense of what Character Education is in our school. As we close out this year we will review what we did and see if we are lacking anything as we define our goals the coming year. New ideas are always welcome and have helped our character education program grow to what you see today.   

 

March Madness Page