For nearly a decade Emporia’s Village Elementary School has been a Capturing Kids Hearts school and following a special announcement Friday afternoon, it is now a six-time National Showcase School.
As part of its STREAM Day festivities, a day where the school recognizes the accomplishments of students over the course of the academic year, student leadership along with Principal Brandi Mitchell made the special announcement in front of the entire student body. Mitchell says the atmosphere of celebration made Friday the perfect time to make the announcement.
The program, overseen by the Flippen Group, recognizes schools for meeting a range of criteria each year including the implementation of Capturing Kids’ Hearts processes, the perceived climate and culture of the campus and a student survey that measures student attitude and connectedness to school. Kindergarten Teacher and CKH team member Jenn McCay says to accomplish this goal each year takes a team effort from all students, staff and families.
This is the sixth consecutive year Village has been named a National Showcase School and is one of only 468 schools across the nation to receive the honor. Village Technology Coach Chelsea Evans says maintaining the school’s status every year is challenging.
She says maybe the greatest challenge Village has faced in its time as a CKH school, not surprisingly, was the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently, all USD 253 Emporia elementary schools are involved in the CKH initiative, however, the program is set to go districtwide beginning next year.
