One cold, wintry, late November morning, kindergartner Sophia
Porras Salazar found herself standing on a stage at the Globe-News
Center for the Performing Arts waving a conductor’s baton. The
bright stage lights shone. The Amarillo Symphony Orchestra played.
Santa led a sing-along. In the audience, 1,000 of Sophia’s peers
cheered and laughed and sang.
“It felt like a big deal,” Sophia told
Portraits after being one of
the guest conductors selected to lead a song during the Amarillo
Symphony’s annual Kinderkonzert.
Almost every year for the last 25, thousands of AISD
kindergartners load up on school buses for the highly-anticipated
trek to Kinderkonzerts. The festive performances introduce
kindergarten critics to the diff erent sections of an orchestra with
demonstrations of each instrument.
For some students the day is full of fi rsts… their fi rst fi eld trip…
fi rst concert experience… and the fi rst time they’ve ever heard of
some of the instruments, like the oddly-monikered oboe.
The harp got a lot of attention. So did Santa. Being a guest
conductor might have felt like a big deal for Sophia, but seeing Santa
was an even bigger deal. “That was my favorite part,” she grins.
Pay a visit to Tradewind Elementary and you’ll likely fi nd the
students running things. No worries, though. As a
Leader in Me
Lighthouse School, Tradewind scholars are skilled leaders, thanks
to the program based on motivator Stephen Covey and his book,
The Seven Habits of Highly Eff ective People. “There’s a leader in
everyone. We just have to fi gure out how to get it out of them,”
says Tradewind instructional coach Cari Laminack. “Our students
are sponges. They’re ready to lead.”
When AISD School Board President Scott Flow visited the campus
in the fall, Tradewind’s student leaders escorted him around campus,
explaining how their school is lighting the way when it comes to
leadership. “Being a Lighthouse campus means we incorporate the
seven habits, such as ‘begin with the end in mind,’” says fi fth-grader
Ayva McGowan. “An example of that is planning ahead.”
Ayva is 11. If she sounds like a mini mogul for her age, she kind
of is. At Tradewind, leadership isn’t a thing you do. It’s who you
are. Students learn about leadership from day one and are given
plenty of opportunities to put it into action. They can apply for roles
throughout their school that are similar to professional jobs, but as
any Tradewind leader will tell you, there is a diff erence. “A role is
something you do just because you enjoy it, not because you have to
do it to make money,” explains fi fth-grader Jordan Pham.
Each Tradewind student also sets a personal goal and an academic
one. Leadership at Tradewind is truly foundational. It is a beginning
with the end in mind. Just ask Ayva. “We prepare students with the
roles and the leadership and the seven habits here,” she says, “so we
can send them out into the world to be leaders and get good jobs.”
Kinderkonzerts: A Fa-la-la-la-loliday Favorite For Kindergartners
A Beginning with the End In Mind: Leadership at Tradewind
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» AMARILLO ISD