BOYLE SCHOOLS

News release

Junction City Elementary School continues to see positive results in both academics and behavior, thanks to the Leader in Me program. The program, now in its fifth year at Junction City, utilizes five paradigms to shift the culture in a school to one of shared leadership between teachers and students. Students, teachers and families all work together to promote achievement and growth in the school.

“We can see the impact the Leader in Me program has had on our school,” commented Pam Shunk, Junction City Elementary School principal. “This program allows our students to work collaboratively with their teachers and other students, instead of all learning being teacher-driven.”

Each month, the school focuses on one of Franklin Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in order to encourage leadership skills and 21st century skills. These habits reinforce the program’s See, Do, Get model, which works by shifting the school’s way of thinking and communicating in order to enact more effective practices, leading to improved measurable results.

Teachers are impressed with the changes over the past five years as well. “Over the past five years I have noticed a positive change in student leadership in our building. Every student in our school has a job that they have chosen or have applied for and they take their jobs seriously,” stated special education teacher Lisa Brown. “I have also noticed that students are taking charge of their learning. They set academic and personal goals and track their progress in their leadership notebooks. These are just a few examples of life skills that our students are learning at a very young age and practicing throughout their school career at JCES.”

First-grade teacher Kristen Lucas echoed Mrs. Brown’s observations, saying “Students love the opportunity to take on leadership roles. It has been rewarding to see strong leadership skills emerge.”

In 2019, Junction City was certified through the Leader in Me program as a Lighthouse School, a prestigious benchmark standing for high achievement. These schools have embraced the program, use it daily and have seen measurable results from doing so. There are just over 300 schools in the country with this designation.

For more information on the Leader in Me program or Junction City Elementary School, please call Pam Shunk at (859) 936-7524.