Jobs well done were the theme of this month’s Leading Lions awards. Recognized were members of the Monroe Elementary School Kindness Committee and a member of the Transportation Department, Dustin Harless.
Kindness is Our Favorite Topping
As a result of a wildly successful Kindness Week at Monroe Elementary School, Principal Jamie Kunz celebrated the efforts of her building’s Kindness Committee which includes: Katie Alsip, Natalie Goodman, Kathy Jakucki, Carrie Pugh, and Misty Weller.
In February Monroe celebrated its third annual Kindness Week. “This was probably our best year yet,” Mrs. Kunz said.
This year’s theme was “Kindness is our favorite topping.” The observance started with students and expanded to the staff, and the community.
“Students worked to fill out a pizza, because kindness is our favorite topping, with random acts of kindness they could do at school and at home just paying it forward," Mrs. Kunz said. They also did some awesome lesson plans on kindness.
For the staff, a room was transformed into a Self-Care Spa. There’s a big emphasis on self-care at Monroe, especially during the pandemic with research showing that some teachers have struggled, Mrs. Kunz said.
“We also reached out to the community,” she said.
Monroe “spread love” throughout the community with banners posted at every school. Packages were prepared for and delivered to residents of Steamboat Springs. The packages included “hugs” from preschool students in the form of two handprints created by the children.
Additionally, Monroe partnered with Papa John’s Pizza and Snappy Tomato Pizza to spread kindness. Students created posters and flyers and at the end of the week, the messages were taped to the pizza boxes and delivered to the community.
Keeping the Fleet On The Road
Transportation Director Andrew Mays nominated Dustin Harless for going above and beyond the call of duty.
The month of February was challenging for the transportation department, Mr. Mays said. During the month, a key department member was off sick with COVID-19. While this team member was out, winter hit pretty hard, he said.
To keep the transportation department functioning during winter weather, buses have to be cleaned of snow and proper preparations made to make certain they will run in the cold temperatures, Mays said. Dustin Harless made all of that happen.
“He rose to the occasion and I lost no sleep worrying about the buses being ready to transport students to school,” Mays said. “He really stepped up to the plate and I think he deserves a lot of recognition for that.”