Academic success and athletic prowess are celebrated at most high schools. But Coon Rapids High School teachers and staffers want students to know there's more to life than what's on a report card or scoreboard.
Kindness counts, too.
Coon Rapids High is in the middle of a yearlong "Kindness Matters" campaign, consisting of contests, challenges, charity drives, pep fests, posters and other messaging planned throughout the year.
The public school has even appointed a kindness coordinator, special education teacher Jamie Weisz.
"In general, we need to be more kind to everybody. People need to learn that as a skill," said Principal Annette Ziegler. "What we are really talking about is being a good person."
For instance, teens watch a short video on kindness during the school's daily announcements. Among those who have recorded short messages are Minnesota Wild left wing Zach Parise, Good Morning America TV host Robin Roberts, Minnesota Twins second baseman Brian Dozier, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Jeopardy game show host Alex Trebek.
"We want to be sure it's something we touch on every day," Ziegler said. "We need to do a lot of things to challenge kids to think about this, [making] kindness a priority."
Ziegler said 2017-18 was shaping up to be a stellar year overall for Coon Rapids High, which has nearly 2,100 students in ninth through 12th grades. Grades are up and discipline is down, she said.
School leaders launched the kindness campaign with a pep fest last fall. Two assistant principals dressed up as superheros ("Captain Kindness"), roared into the gym on motorcycles and gave motivational speeches about kindness.
The zany skit worked, said Rain and Reese Ulen, twin sisters who attend Coon Rapids High. They also loved it when teachers handed out "random acts of kindness" cards to students and challenged them to complete the tasks listed, such as holding the door for someone, issuing a compliment, offering study help and sending out an upbeat tweet.
School leaders hope to extend the kindness campaign beyond the walls of the school during the second half of the school year, Ziegler said.
Frendarious Willis, a senior, said the school's atmosphere feels more inviting this year. Willis, who recently won the annual Character Award from St. Louis Park-based community service nonprofit Youth Frontiers, championed the kindness movement even before school leaders launched the official campaign. He's a football player and member of the Link Crew, a school club that shows new students around.
"Our school climate is shifting toward a community of respect, and I think it's because of leaders like Frendarious contributing to that change," Assistant Principal Sherri Schendzielos said.
Willis tries to bring a sense of empathy to his daily life, putting himself in another person's shoes. "I don't like feeling lonely or left out. I am sure other people don't like it either, so I try to include everyone," he said.
Ziegler said the school's decision to launch a kindness campaign with positive messages was done deliberately. Kids and teens typically are inundated with anti-bully campaigns with rules about what they can't do. "We decided maybe we just concentrate on the positive and see how it goes," she said.
It's not just a feel-good lesson, Ziegler said. Developing skills to treat others with respect and kindness, persevere in tasks and learn from mistakes will be critical to her students' future success.
"A lot of the talk in education is about academics. That's good, but what kind of emotional and behavioral targets do we want our kids to leave school with when they go on to their next phase of their lives?" Ziegler said.
Shannon Prather • 612-673-4804
