Episode Details

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. A fun new campaign that focuses on kids being kind to one another is taking off at Midas Creek Elementary School. On this episode of the Supercast, we find out what “Rockin’ and Rollin’ with Kindness'' is all about and how the music themed campaign is creating lots of kindness rock stars at the school. The campaign kickoff involved a concert of course, and I was invited to DJ. You're about to find out how I did.

We are here with Principal Megan Cox at Midas Creek Elementary. “Rockin and Rollin with Kindness”, that's the program. How are you?

Megan Cox:
Yeah. Doing well, doing great this year.

Anthony Godfrey:
So tell me about this program.

Megan Cox:
Yeah, so every year we like to focus on kindness. And so I asked my teachers what sort of thing we wanted to do, and they wanted to go with a rock and roll theme. So we pulled our PTA in and they helped us make the magic happen. So our whole school is decked out in rock and roll through the genres and the decades. And we just kind of pull it into everything that we do.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, your faculty and your PTA are obviously fabulous because there's some incredible decorations through there. When you guys do a theme, you really do a theme.

Megan Cox:
Yes. Yeah. We don't go small. We go big. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
You went big. There are inflated guitars and like the flying V guitar and bands that kids need to know about. I saw a poster of the Ramones. Too many people wear a Ramone shirt. They do not even know who they are. Now the children will know.

Megan Cox:
They will know. They will know the good bands of all generations.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the focus on kindness over the years.

Megan Cox:
Yeah, so we have teachers nominate two kids every month who are being kind in the classroom, or out of the classroom, and kids can nominate each other. And then they get an award. Every month I come over the Intercom and we celebrate every child in every grade for the kind things that they're doing. I announce why they were chosen and they get to come down and they get a certificate, get their picture taken. And then we post that picture all month long. Until the next group is chosen.

Anthony Godfrey:
The things that get focused on by the school, by PTA, by faculty, and by you as the principal are the things that kids understand to be important. And I love that you have emphasized kindness. By the time the student has gone through seven years at Midas Creek, the message should have sunk in and really be a part of who they are day to day. That they're kind to each other.

Megan Cox:
Yeah. And our sixth graders, we choose student leaders, the classes choose the leaders every year, and they get to come up with a mission of what they would like to do. And so our last few years they wanted to include buddy benches. So we raised money as a school and we have buddy benches at our playground so that the kids can sit there and find friends and look for people that need a friend. And they do our announcements every day and they share a quote about kindness to the whole school. So that it really is a big message here that we're trying to have these kids really take on and help other kids at our school.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. I love that. We really have to create an environment where everyone's looking out for each other. Everyone feels l