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