Four eighth grade students from FMS visited Upland Heights and Bennett Elementary to teach fifth graders about avoiding bullying, making new friends and handling peer pressure.
Middle school can sometimes be a nerve wrecking adventure for incoming sixth graders. It’s a brand new school with a whole new group of students and teachers, and sometimes that can be a little overwhelming.
To ease the nerves, four Frenship Middle School students visited 5th graders at Upland Heights Elementary and Bennett Elementary, as a part of their Destination Imagination Project, Wednesday (Feb. 8) and Friday (Feb. 10) to teach them more about middle school, including avoiding bullying, making new friends and handling peer pressure through fun and games.
FMS students, Natalie Canizales, Mehkya Rhodes and two others, divided the students into three different groups and played games with each of the groups to teach a lesson. The games included “Simon Says,” “Jump the River” and “Signs,” in which each game had an underlying meaning.
The lessons included:
- Speak up and let an adult know about mean/bullying behavior.
- You don’t need to change who you are or what you believe in to make friends.
- Find good leaders and friends to follow and hang out with to avoid people that will lead you down wrong or negative paths.
“It’s amazing to see our middle school students reaching out to our elementary students,” said Frenship Middle School Principal Jerry Jerabek. “These four girls came up with this project on their own with the goal to show 5th graders that middle school is not a scary place, but it is place where they can have fun and grow.”
This project is a part of Destination Imagination, in which students will compete in an affiliate tournament in Lubbock this April. Destination Imagination is a non-profit, volunteer-led, cause-driven organization that is designed to inspire and equip students to become the next generation of innovators and leaders.
