More than 800 members of the school community attended the March 14 presentation by Jessica Lahey, author of “The Gift of Failure.” The event was a fitting first public event in the ZCS “Strong in Every Way campaign.”
“Strong in Every Way” seeks to ensure that Zionsville Community Schools students are armed for success in three important areas beyond academics. Domain one involves human supports called “anchors and strings.” Domain two is about building traits of success through various experiences. The most successful young graduates have developed traits of confidence based on competence, compassion, ethics, determination and wellness to augment their academic achievements. Domain three is about cultural understandings necessary to living a productive life and having optimum employability in the 21st century.
Kindergarten Round-Up events will welcome many new families to ZCS starting March 28. The potential for human capital development is never better than when we engage with our youngest learners and their parents. So, we are launching a special segment of our “Strong in Every Way” campaign that is titled “CO3O,” which stands for “Class of ’30!” Can you believe that our incoming kindergartners will graduate from high school in the year 2030?
Our “CO3O” campaign chair has a 5-year-old, too. She is Mrs. Erin Bivans Johnson. Erin is a former teacher, wife, mom and full-time promoter of intrinsic motivation in young people — and so much more. I invite all parents of incoming kindergarten students in Zionsville to get the “Strong in Every Way CO3O” brochure at Kindergarten Round-Up and get engaged.
What can these initiatives do for you and your child? We’re building it, and you can come have an impact. We are focused now on providing child development information, tips, networking and supports for you as parents — and for your kids as the human capital essential for our community’s bright future. There is an important survey for parents of incoming Kindergartners — “CO3O” (please type this into your browser surveymonkey.com/r/SIEWCO30 or see the survey link under the “RESOURCES AND SIGN-UPS” tab on our webpage shown below. Please come join our Parent Posse!).
I am so thankful that the Rotary Club is in, the Kiwanis Club is in (“Up with People” is coming in September, and it will be amazing!). Lions Club leaders are generously interested to partner, too. Wow!
Please go to our website if you’re curious about how you can engage and help, even if you have older children or no children in our schools. This is a community campaign in the making, designed to be ongoing and “community attentive” in every way possible. Please visit zcs.k12.in.us/apps/pages/strong_in_every_way
I have been around the good people of Zionsville and Whitestown for 11 years now! We all know that no one is strong in every way, but our campaign title is aspirational. Just like happy and productive people, great school communities are constantly striving, building on strengths and reaching out to maximize the impact of the human capital nearby. Join us, please. Help us, please.
ZCS: The road through life begins here.
Scott Robison is superintendent of Zionsville Community Schools.
