Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Administrator’s Corner by John Mahal

The student council students at Hawthorne want to send out a huge thank you for participating in our “Soup”er Bowl Food Drive last week. The Albert Lea Salvation Army currently supports around 250 families in our community each month with food and without our donations, they wouldn’t be able to support as many. We discussed throughout the event why we as a school were participating in this food drive so that we could highlight all of the great skills that go along with this work while also helping with our community.

Having a food drive at school is an important part of not only supporting our greater community but this also helps our students grow as individuals to take leadership, think of others’ needs and develop skills in relationship building, empathy and social awareness. Supporting students to think outside of themselves helps create a positive difference not only for others but in the way it can build character in each student as well. Our school’s Second Step curriculum that is taught by our teachers and elementary counselors also stress the importance of why empathy is important for students. Empathy supports students to build more connections with people, help regulate their emotions and helps promote helping behaviors for others.

At the end of the food drive, our student council totaled up all of the donated food items. In the end, we donated 1,098 non-perishable food items to the Salvation Army, which was significantly more than last year! The message we shared with our students was that through this food drive, we are making a difference in the lives of our community while also growing from this experience as well. We are excited to support our community in multiple ways at Hawthorne all while we do our best to educate our young learners to do their best academically, socially and emotionally. In combination with each other, our students are learning many skills that will prepare them for their secondary education journey’s but also set them up to do great things after high school as well. Way to go Hawthorne students for your leadership in helping our community!

John Mahal is principal of Hawthorne Elementary School.