Shaker Road Celebrates Power of Nice's Second Birthday

November 2011

On the Friday before Thanksgiving for the past few years, Shaker Road has enjoyed a day-long celebration of the school’s anti-bullying program, better known as the Power of Nice. November 18th represented the program’s second birthday. Throughout the day and evening, the Shaker Road community celebrated the achievements of our anti-bullying program and re-committed ourselves to make Shaker Road bully-free. The day began with a visit from BMX champion and guest speaker, Chris Poulos. Chris’ anti-bullying and character education messages were aligned to the Olweus principles that guide the Power of Nice and our school-wide anti-bullying rules. The fact that he is a national and world champion BMX bike-rider only made his message more interesting to the students. Performing tricks and involving the students in scenarios where the topics of bullying and assertiveness were demonstrated, Chris truly helped to start our celebration the right way. Co-operative activities continued throughout the day in anticipation of a great community gathering that night. Students and their families returned to school in the evening to enjoy a family fun night built around the same themes we had celebrated throughout the day. Entertainment came in the form of a talented juggler magician, bingo and all sorts of games with cookies. We created a beautiful window of painted handprints to re-commit ourselves to the Power of Nice pledge. And students completed pages to be judged for entry into a Shaker Road Power of Nice calendar. All things considered, it was a wonderful day!