News you can use

Pony Pride character initiative takes off

A small group of Havre High School students is spearheading an ambitious initiative that aims to teach character among all students so they may then spread its traits beyond the classroom and into the community.

The Pony Print initiative - a microcosmic local aspect of the larger Montana Behavioral Initiative - is what school staff want all students to embody, be safe, be responsible, be respectful, be educated. Those four creeds are what Pony Pride is all about, teachers and students who are part of the initiative said.

"Pony Pride is Pony Print," Havre High School literature teacher Kendall Griggs, an ardent proponent of the initiative, said.

The goal of MBI, according to its website, is to create behavioral support and a social structure that establishes social, emotional and academic success for all students.

A Pony Print logo - the blue pony horseshoe with the four principles written around it - has been designed to help spread the word. Stickers and T-shirts with the logo have been made and the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce has been asked to ask its member businesses to display them.

Griggs said Tuesday the goal is for everyone to learn character. The purpose of MBI is to have clear and consistent expectations, he added.

Students come from many different backgrounds and are not all raised with the same expectations. For example, Griggs said, some students live in homes where cursing is commonplace and allowable. Cursing however, Griggs said, is contrary to Pony Pride. Pony Print is about defining expectations and having the character to meet them.

English teacher Mandy Nitz said although times change and some issues "are more intense," respect among students has always been an issue. She believes Pony Print is a great idea.

The group of approximately 15 students who are working to spread Pony Pride - who are hoping to start a movement - meet every Monday during their lunch period to spend time together and talk about what they are seeing and what they are doing. This week they met an extra day, Tuesday. Griggs bought pizza to eat while everyone discussed the pragmatic facets of Pony Pride.

One student who got involved because she wanted to be part of the change said that can start with something as simple yet meaningful as picking up a book for someone who drops one in the hall.

Another student said Pony Pride is building an atmosphere where everyone feels welcomed - an environment where students respect one another, where students respect each other, and one where students respect teachers.

Examples of Pony Pride included eating with a student who was eating alone, comforting someone who was "down on themselves," interjecting when someone berates or insults another, students said. One student said Pony Pride could be sitting at lunch next to a teacher.

The teacher's goal in the Pony Print initiative is mostly about learning how to interact in a constructive way with students who don't yet meet the Pony Pride standards. Griggs said an example of that is for every negative a student hears directed toward him there should be five positives.

"The biggest thing about MBI is a unified staff with clear and consistent expectations who address negative behaviors in a positive way," Griggs said.

Pony Print started out with a fraction of the students involved currently. Katelyn Maloughney, 15, said only five students were part of the group last year. She was one of them. For her, it started with an invite.

"A teacher handed me a pamphlet," she said. "I didn't know what it was about because this was when it first started. It was about the MBI youth conference and they wanted me to go."

Katelyn went to an MBI conference in Great Falls last year and that's where she got a glimpse into what a school that fully embraces MBI can look like.

"We didn't have anything so we just said it was our first year. Other schools had been doing it for longer and they were doing a bunch of cool stuff," Katelyn said. "They were making videos, they were doing community gardens."

Katelyn decided then she wanted to get involved.

Christian Sorenson is using his movie-making abilities to spread the message. Students spent two months last year making a film to illustrate what Pony Pride means.

The protagonist in the short film is football coach Ryan Gatch. When students crowd a locker area and prevent others from getting to their locker, Gatch comes on the scene and blows a whistle, bellowing that Pony Pride means giving space to others when visiting lockers. When a student is on his cellphone while the teacher is talking, Gatch shows up again, blowing his whistle and saying Pony Pride means putting phones away and paying attention in class. When a student calls another student stupid Gatch again intervenes with his whistle.

"Pony Pride means being courteous and respectful to other students," Gatch says.

The video is nearly finished and the plan, Griggs said, is to roll it out during the first Pony Print assembly. A time for the assembly has not been set yet.

Other students like Taylor Gopher are using their influence to spread the word. Gopher, who plays football and wrestles, also volunteers at the local Feed My Sheep Soup Kitchen and has a job at Gary and Leo's Fresh Foods.

"I like to be a part of everything I can. I love new things, I love setting an impact everywhere I go," Gopher said.

Since he found a minute in his schedule that wasn't taken, he decided this year would be a good time to become part of Pony Print and spread the word about Pony Pride.

"There's definitely lots of changes we can make around here," he said. "There's always room for improvement."

Gopher's vision is for the horseshoe to leave a print on the entire community, for businesses to promote it.

"So when you know more about it, that means this whole town can get involved," Gopher said. "The more you see it, the more you're going to want to know what it is, and if it stands for something good, the more you're going to join it."

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 
Rendered 03/02/2024 23:00