The Buckeye Elementary School District is adopting a new philosophy called the “Leader in Me” to help build a schoolwide leadership experience for students in the district. While Leader in Me isn't new to Arizona, it is new to the Buckeye Elementary School District, specifically at WestPark and Inca Elementary Schools.
Leader in Me is an education model based on Steve R. Covey's bestselling book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”
"This is how we learn the seven habits. We see it being modeled, we follow suit, and we do the same behavior, and then we either get a positive or a negative reaction out of what happens. This really is the cycle that we live within,” said Dr. Anna Carino, the principal at WestPark Elementary School in Buckeye.
According to Carino, the seven habits help students learn to apply communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and social-emotional skills. The framework also gives students, staff members, and families a common language to help build a strong culture of leadership. Leader in Me is a comprehensive K-12 framework that fosters a culture of trust, Dr. Carino said.
"We want students to shift that core paradigm to a highly effective paradigm of 'I have a choice, and I am responsible for my happiness,’” Dr. Carino said. “We teach kids how to pause and respond. We teach kids how to be proactive and use proactive language."
Beverly Essary is an eighth-grader at WestPark who said her mindset has changed entirely since she was first introduced to the Leader in Me program.
"You have to think about what is going on in your life right now and how your actions are going to affect your future,” Essary said. “I want to become that better person and realize that I start with myself."
Analeigh Maldonado, a seventh-grader at WestPark, said the process behind Leader in Me builds character and confidence.
"All the habits are different, but all have the same goal and that is focusing on yourself and being able to bring out the better part of you,” Maldonado said. “And so I do believe that I can take this on later in life.”
