The Heroes and Sidekicks have come back! On November 1, a group of eighth graders along with the school counselors, will be visiting Mawbey Street School #1, Port Reading School #9, and Ross Street School #11 to teach elementary school students about responsibility.

Among the heroes is Erica Mizak. Mizak explained how she felt about going to the schools. She says she’s “nervous” because she “isn’t so good at speaking to a lot of people”. She
says to “listen to your teachers” and be respectful of other people.

Rachael Malltell and Gianna Benicaso are two middle school students turned hero. Benicaso says that she feels excited because she likes to teach people about bullying, as well as Malltell. Malltell also feels happy because they receive a “free t-shirt”.

Adrian Navedo, Jayden Mercado, and Charles Crook, some of the boys going to the school, weighed in on their future life as a hero. Navedo said he is “enthusiastic” about talking to the kids and informing them of the Warrior Way, which is a new positive behavior system at WMS. He also says he wants to help elementary school students “survive all three years of middle school”, and warn them of what is and isn’t acceptable.

Crook shared a memory about bullying that he wants the elementary students to learn from. He says he was bullied in elementary school and instead of telling an adult to solve the problem, he fought with the bully, and he wants students to know that fighting is not the way to handle problems.

Mercado also says he feels brave because he gets to help other students and it’s an “honor” for him to do so. Mercado wants to send messages of “responsibility, integrity, and respect”, which happen to be the three pillars of the Warrior Way.

Sixth graders, Riley Volpe and Tanaya Thompson, talked about the feeling of coming to a new middle school. Volpe says there’s nothing bad, but some people were kind of “odd”, she thought it would be “a big school and hard to get around and to your classes on time”, but she overcame those as she evolved as a middle schooler. Thompson said she already knew kids weren’t going to be “as mean as she thought”.

On Wednesday October 19, 2017, The Heroes and Cool Kids had their training. A former police officer named Drew told the students about his past work and life. He also introduced his partner, named Danielle.

The students were given a booklet giving them reminders of what the eighth graders are supposed to talk about with the elementary students. Officer Drew explained communication and how they’re supposed to talk to the kids and teachers. He explained how the program is going to be a “different experience for the kids if you’re happy and look happy, rather than you coming in the class with a sluggish way with your head down.”

For the sake of the children, the eighth graders were told to make a box with a hole at the top and pass out index cards, so the elementary students could ask questions without feeling embarrassed or targeted.

Officers Drew and Danielle continued to talk about setting goals. They also spoke about different categories of goals, like school goals, social goals and life goals.

Around the end of the training, the eighth graders played two games to see how it would work out in the elementary classroom. They played backwards charades, the human knot, and Officer Drew explained how they could also play Simon Says.