Leaders are Readers at Thirkill Elementary

As Principal Rod Worthington welcomes visitors to his school, he takes great pride in introducing them to some of the programs and values that have made Thirkill Elementary in Soda Springs a “lighthouse school” for leadership and academic success.  

Principal Worthington is clearly proud of his school’s accomplishments, and enjoys talking about the programs that have made it a success story.  “This year’s theme is ‘Don’t just look at the stars, be a star—Stars shine brighter’,” he says, pointing to a mural in the entryway bearing the message and a scene painted by local artist Diane Olsen.  “When you walk in, what we first want you to do is feel the positivity.  What you’ve done is walk into a leadership school.”

Worthington explains that the theme chosen for the year is then applied to the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” developed by Stephen R. Covey in his bestselling book of the same title.  For those unfamiliar, the steps are: Be Proactive, Begin with the End in Mind, Put First Things First, Think Win-Win, Seek First to Understand Then to be Understood, Synergize, and Sharpen the Saw.  Each of these steps helps students to foster creative, independent thinking, as well as cultivate the skills that allow them to thrive in group and organizational settings.  Schools that have qualified to participate in the program are called “Leader in Me Schools.”  Thirkill has been so successful at the program, that it is now a “lighthouse school” in the Leader in Me system, which took an intense audit and evaluation by the national organization.

As the year draws closer to its end, students have just finished “Synergize” and are now engaged in Habit 7, “Sharpen the Saw.”  Each student has a list of activities to choose from, and must complete five of them in order to pass off the habit checklist.  The list includes such activities as “Plan and hold a family night,” “Try giving up video games for a week and list the activities you do instead,” “Track the number of steps you take each day,” “Share a family meal.  Take a family selfie and record the date of the meal,” and so on.  The activities allow for students to choose from a range of actions that might be appealing to them, or allow them to challenge themselves.  For instance, “Go to a cultural event together, such as a play, concert, dance recital, or choir performance.  Encourage one another to develop talents in one of those areas.”

An examination of the list of possible activities also illustrates the fact that the program is designed not only for the student’s growth, but also to strengthen the student’s relationships with their family and classmates.  “We not only serve the students in our school, but also the families at home and in our community,” Worthington says.  One of the underlying premises of the program is that success is something that happens most effectively within a supportive environment, rather than in isolation.  When students are given clear roles within the learning situation, they achieve a level of self-confidence that follows them throughout the other aspects of their lives. 

“Everything is based on the seven habits—it’s the base curriculum within our school.  And then we start out with our mission statement, which is LEADERS,” he explains.  The acronym stands for Learn, Encourage, Achieve, Dream, Excel, Respect, and Serve.  The mission statement remains constant, while the theme changes from year to year.  From that overarching mission statement, each individual class and student has their own tasks for processing their own mission statements.  The statements for each grade evolve in complexity and significance as the students progress through the school.

Each classroom has a “greeter,” for instance, who is tasked with being the teacher’s go-to student.  Jackson, a student in Mrs. Donna Gentry's  first grade class, was asked to explain what his role involved.  After reviewing the steps, Jaxon explains that when people get to the classroom in the morning, his job is to greet everyone as they come in.  When it’s time for the pledge, he models it for the class and tells them it’s time to begin.  The teacher asks him to call on people when it’s time to answer questions, help other students, and perform many other tasks.  Each of the other students have their own job within the class. Jasmine is a paper passer in the class, for instance.  The students keep binders containing their work and progress on the steps throughout the year.  As the grade levels increase, so do the responsibilities of
the greeters. 

The school also has students work on what they call their “Wildly Important Goals,” or WIGs.  The binder is presented to the students’ parents during parent conferences, though the student themselves leads the discussion about the contents and what they have accomplished, rather than the teacher.  “That’s the best part,” third-grade teacher Summer Fullmer says.  “By the time they get to third grade, they have some autonomy and they own this.  They get to go through this, and they lead the conference all by themselves.  We practice together, but when their parents come in they lead the discussion themselves.”

Every class is working on its third quarter goals.  The last two quarters of WIGs were accomplished across the school at above a 90% rate. 

Last week, Thirkill held its annual “Leaders are Readers” program, which brings in visiting speakers to read to classes in the school’s library (which, incidentally, is reported to check out 450 books a day!).  The program is designed to reinforce the idea that reading, and by extension involvement with learning, can be correlated with success in a range of professional fields.  Throughout the week, the school was visited by local business leaders, school board members, city and county officials, and police officers who took time out of their schedules to read to classes and answer questions.  Among the participants were Trustees Stoor, Jensen, Erickson, and Barker (with at least one trustee’s wife filling in), Officer Phelps, Vick Micheal and Kaylee Peck, Dillon Liechty, Superintendent Muir, Tony Salvi, Kent and Wendi Loosle, Bobby Scovil, Brandon Hall, Attorney Doug Wood, Mark Kirby, Evan Wilson, and Natalie Petersen.

Each person or group spent around a half hour reading from a selection of books chosen by Librarian Jessica Ineck, and asking and answering questions with the students.  

Kent Loosle is the CEO of Caribou Medical Center, and enjoys speaking to kids.  His wife Wendi is no stranger to it either, having had a substantial career in education.  It turned out that a number of students in the class had parents who worked for the Medical Center, and others had parents or siblings who had been there.  

“What’s one word that catches your attention on that sign behind you?”  Principal Worthington asked
the students.

“Leaders and Kindness,” they
responded.

“So, Mister and Mrs. Loosle are going to talk a little about how leaders can show kindness.  I know Mr. Loosle is pretty amazing, but Mrs. Loosle, she was a teacher too,” which impressed the assembled students.  After discovering that she taught in Utah, a dozen hands went up to ask whether she knew their aunt, or cousin, or friends who lived in Utah.  Principal Worthington kindly explained that she probably didn’t know them, but it was possible.  Then he explained that the Caribou Medical Center had just provided a proof copy for the design of the new sign to be placed in front of the school.  The sign will read “Educating and Inspiring Leaders of the Future, partners in duration with Caribou Medical Center,” replacing the sign that has been in front of the school for many decades.

“So, I’m a leader at the hospital,” Kent said.  “But Mrs. Loosle has a much more important job than me—she’s a mom and grandma.  That’s the same as a teacher.  Moms and grandmas teach, and she’s going to read to you and teach you a little
about kindness.”

As the couple progressed through the book, they stopped to ask questions of the students, and answer those that were raised.  With patience and thoughtfulness, they focused on how kindness is shown between friends and family, as well as between students at their own school.