Principal’s Corner by Steve Kovach

Schools have assemblies and pep fests all the time, mostly to cheer on athletes or students getting ready for various competitions or state tournaments.

Southwest Middle School used to get all of our students together in the gym for one reason or another. I won’t say our gatherings were boring, but we felt they were lacking pizazz. So last year we started a new tradition — celebrations of awesomeness!

Each month our school gets together to celebrate our students. You won’t see any MCA test scores waved around on banners, because we wouldn’t be able to do that until August of the following school year. That’s not a very timely celebration.

We celebrate “the now.”

We celebrate the everyday great achievements our students experience that you won’t ever see in a standardized test score.

Whether it is how many total pages of reading students are completing and how they are understanding text, how hard they are working to become physically fit or a science challenge that they conquered — we celebrate.

Whether it is being a great thinker each day in social studies, a rock star math student or a classmate that helps another classmate master a skill — we celebrate.

Sometimes we dance spontaneously. One time last year we had a group of sixth-graders, books in hand, do a literature flash mob! We have standout students, stand-up students and students who distinguish themselves through showing grit and determination. We celebrate all of these things and more.

We know our students are smart and caring and energetic. We also know that our school is publicly judged each year by state standardized tests.

We choose to celebrate the now.

We choose to value the little things that matter and contribute to the success of our students.

We also have another chapter getting ready to unfold; students are beginning to nominate their classmates to be recognized.

How awesome is that?

Steve Kovach is the principal of Southwest Middle School.