The concept for our Sticks And Stones program began as a way to address school violence. As a society, we have become so focused on stopping a shooter, that we ignore the root cause of the issue, and it comes down to one word… why?
Why does an individual become or develop into a shooter? What are the underlying causes of their thoughts and emotions?
Instead of asking, “What will it take to keep our students safe from a shooter?” this program changes the narrative and asks, “What will it take for our students to not become a shooter in the first place?”
What would that look like?
In order to do this, we have to imagine that we could go back in time and take ahold of this individual when they were four, or five, or ten… whatever age they needed to be, before their thoughts and emotions became twisted.
What could we have done differently to have diffused the situation before it got out of hand and festered, unabated, to this level?
Our original concept, that was aimed specifically at eradicating gun violence, has now blossomed into a larger, more comprehensive plan for not only addressing aggression in school, but also implementing preventative measures to help mitigate risk factors in early childhood development, before they become an issue.
The best way to describe the program is Sesame Street (a children’s program) meets DARE (a program that goes into the schools) meets JTPA (a previously federally funded summer youth employment program)… but instead of Sesame Street, our characters are based on the “It’s Hard To Be A Kid These Days” series, we talk about appropriate expression of emotions instead of drugs, and our students are rewarded for specific accomplishments and random acts of kindness.
This is our pilot program, and as such we must approach our introduction a little differently than we will once we have begun in full swing.
We will begin by offering a challenge to the Art students at our Innovation Academy STEAM Magnet school – to conceptualize the costumes for our characters and design the set for our presentations to the elementary school students.
That plus our Engineering challenge will be the easiest and most effective way to introduce this pilot program into the school system and kickoff our Belonging initiative.
There is one portion of our program that fosters a sense of belonging for students. In order to do that, we will set up several, informal clubs for students to explore various areas of interest ranging from engineering to rock collecting – with the sole purpose of bringing our students together with other students who share similar interests.
Goals and Objectives
PREVENTION:
Soft Prevention
- Mindfulness / Breathing / Guided Relaxation exercises
- Foster empathy
- Develop emotional maturity: recognize their body cues, label the emotion, express the emotion appropriately, diffuse and self-regulate.
Hard Prevention
- Any Ordinary Tuesday Program
- Learn how your words and actions affect others.
- In-school ‘field trips’.
- Receive in-school tutoring.
- Receive in-school mentoring to explore their interests and strengths; develop self-esteem that leads to resilience.
Intentional Random Acts of Kindness Outreach
- Animal shelter
- Nursing home
.
INTERVENTION:
Soft Intervention
- Reflect program
- HELP line(s)
Hard Intervention
- Love the Ones Who Deserve it the Least Because They are the Ones Who Need it the Most – participation in in-school program in lieu of suspension.
- Involvement of authorities.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Program Principles
Treat others with respect and kindness.
Respect yourself: self-care, healthy boundaries, daily laughter, rest and calm your mind.
Recognize your emotions and express them safely and appropriately.
Develop internalistic traits: you have the power to affect change.
Have a team mentality: in-school tutoring and mentoring.
Practice a healthy lifestyle: emotionally, mentally, and physically.
Show gratitude!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Core Values
Integrity
Respect
Fairness
Intent
Realness (Down-To-Earth)
Empathy
Healing
Positivity
Internalistic Belief System
Gratitude
Resilience