Novi Meadows Earns Honor From National Civil Rights Group

From The SPLC: The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance program has named Novi Meadows Elementary School as a Mix It Up Model School for its exemplary efforts to foster respect and understanding among its students and throughout its school community during the 2016-17 school year.Novi Meadows is among 76 schools nationwide – and just three from Michigan – to receive the honor. “We commend Novi Meadows for finding innovative ways to create environments where respect and inclusiveness are core values,” said Maureen Costello, a Teaching Tolerance director.

“Though model schools vary in size and demographics, they all serve as great examples of how a school – any school – can cultivate these values among their students, faculty and staff.”The Teaching Tolerance program has promoted Mix It Up at Lunch Day for the past 15 years to help students demonstrate the importance of respecting each other’s differences. Novi Meadows, a fifth- and sixth-grade house, held this year’s event on Nov. 18. Meadows also held two supporting events: Positive is Powerful Day on Feb. 8, and the Leadership Symposium on Nov. 21.“Positive is Powerful Day was actually an idea brought to me by three Novi Meadows students three years ago,” said Meadows counselor Audry Moiseeff.

“Those students recognized the value in acknowledging the greatness in others. The idea is simple. We posted positive quotes around the building and then made sure each student partnered up with a classmate to share something wonderful they notice in each other.”Students were challenged to write positive thoughts on stickers for their partners to proudly wear throughout the day. School staff also participated by drawing names of other staff members to celebrate. “It is such a great reminder to me of how a few positive words can make a big impact,” Moiseeff said. “I am a firm believer that kindness really does matter.” Mix It Up at Lunch Day is a simple call to action. By asking students to move out of their comfort zones and connect with someone new over lunch, the event encourages students to identify, question and cross social boundaries.Attentiveness, enthusiasm, acceptance, loyalty, forgiveness was some of the concepts Novi Meadows students discussed as they reflected on character for their fifth annual Mix It Up celebration.

Each student selected a piece of candy with a character word attached to it, and they sat at tables labeled to correspond to each word. Table topics helped students get to know one another, but conversation was especially centered on the value of having good character.The Leadership Symposium was brand new to Novi Meadows this year. The Student Lighthouse team worked very closely with school administration to help this day come together. Novi Meadows also invited the Student Lighthouse teams from Smith Elementary (Plymouth, Mich.) and Moraine Elementary (Northville, Mich.) to attend.Awkward Pause, Novi High School’s theatre group that uses skits to provoke thought and inspire social change, helped facilitate the Leadership Symposium with student discussions based on issues that fifth- and sixth-grade students currently face.

All students also had the opportunity to use the Makers Space to engage in team building activities that helped them solve hands-on problems together before engaging in discussions on how to solve social problems together.The Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Ala., is a nonprofit civil rights organization that combats bigotry and discrimination through litigation, education and advocacy. For more information, see splcenter.org.

Image Courtesy of SPL Center