Students have been studying the founding of our country and The Constitution of the United States. As part of the experience, the young people in Coach Kiss and Mr. Eck's class have been tasked with creating and adopting their own oath or creed. The final document was to provide a framework that students could use to guide and assess their behavior within their classroom community. The process was a long one, but the journey resulted in a worthy Pledge.
Before the students could start to design their Pledge, they participated in several days of inquiry into "values" and character traits. The beliefs of our founding fathers - George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, and other early leaders of the United States - were compared to the beliefs and values of the students. Mr. Eck ensured that the virtues of academia were also included.
Then, much like the designers of the Constitution, the students convened a convention. The first day of the convention, the students were given very little guidance from the staff. The ensuing chaos provided an important lesson on the importance of having order. The second day of the convention, Mr. Eck opened with a lesson on parlimentary procedures. The students selected Jeremy L. as the chairman and the following sessions were more productive.
On the twenty-sixth of September the students held an election for class officers. Under the leadership of the new student leadership, the class held a final review of their document and voted to ratify the 2011/2012 class pledge. During a special ceremony the following day, students swore to do their best to uphold the ideals of the document by signing the pledge.
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