Mathew Halvorsen, first grade winner of the Pliers of Kindness, along with his parents and Forestville Principal Todd Franklin (right). Photo contributed
To the tune of the Bugler’s Dream Olympic song, winners of the Pliers of Kindness, walked down the red carpet to receive the very coveted yellow construction helmet and a cookie. With parents and students as the audience, Forestville’s principal personally presented the awards and congratulated the winners. This month, Charlie Finkleman a Kindergarten, Matthew Halvorsen and Luis Hernandez first graders, Ana Toumazatos and Alex Van Houten second graders, Madison Merrit a third grader, Rahul Sudhakar a fourth grader, Caitlyn Shumadine and Madeline Sheridan fifth graders and Stefan Beskin a sixth grader, were selected because they best exhibited kindness to others at Forestville. “We are proud of our students for embracing this campaign and especially proud of those who have been selected as winners”, said Todd Franklin, Forestville’s principal. He added “I congratulate each of our Pliers of Kindness winners and look forward to awarding more helmets and cookies to our future winners of this month’s character trait, the Measuring Tape of Positive Attitude”.
Since the beginning of this school year, as part of their Renovation for Innovation Campaign, Forestville has implemented a Character Trait Campaign focused on teaching and practicing honor, perseverance, courage, positive attitude and kindness among others. Each month students learn via videos, games or discussions what the character trait of the month is all about and are encouraged to put it into practice. A winner from each grade is nominated by their peers or teachers, selected by members of the PTA and the Administration and recognized in public during the lunch hour.
“This is a wonderful program!” said Katie Baird, parent of third grade winner of the Tool Belt of Honor award that was given at the beginning of this campaign in October. She added, “When Evan won the third grade award for the character trait of Honor, he was so thrilled, and so was I. Evan came home and very clearly explained to me that honor was saying you would do something and then keeping your word by following through. As a parent, I am thrilled that Forestville’s PTA is teaching our kids the importance of values and character traits that will help them be good citizens for the rest of their lives. I appreciate that we are recognizing kids for things other than just academic accomplishments and helping holistically educate and train our children to be contributing members of our community.”
“Forestville is a wonderful place for our children to be. The teachers, the administration and the parents work very well as a team with one goal in mind, to create an awesome environment that fosters learning and character development. This year as PTA president I have had the privilege to work alongside parents and Forestville Staff to help implement this program. I am grateful for their embrace and support because part of a good education is raising great citizens and Forestville does that,” said PTA President, Jennisse Silvestri.