Franktown Elementary Student Empowerment Team: Kayla Knoll
Kayla Knoll, Franktown Elementary’s School Counselor since 2019, loves her job. She especially enjoys the Student Empowerment Team and guiding fifth-graders in developing leadership skills during their last year of elementary school.
The Student Empowerment Team consists of about twenty fifth-grade students. They apply and are chosen by a group of staff based on character traits including responsibility, perseverance, respect for others, and a willingness to grow in leadership.
“This group is so wonderful because we have some kids who are more quiet and this helps build their confidence and put them into a leadership role,” said Kayla.
Hearing things like, "I never thought I would be performing in front of the whole school at an assembly" or "I never thought that I would do the school announcements" as well as listening to students brainstorming about school improvements are among Kayla’s favorite things. She regularly receives feedback from parents that they are so grateful to have their kids included in the team, sharing that the group had a positive impact in their household.
Kayla meets with the group once every two weeks for about an hour. The students lead the group, come up with ideas, and do all of the planning. The team is excited to be working on future ideas!
So far this year, the Youth Leadership Program has already had many successes:
- The team has given out a birthday certificate and prize for every student's birthday, provided lollipops to students on World Kindness Day, and distributed cards and candy canes to each classroom during the winter holiday season.
- Students have read the school announcements, held a school-wide anti-bullying assembly, cheered for students during their Fun Run, and greeted students with ‘welcome back to school’ signs on the first day of school.
Look for more DCSD school counselor stories later this week as we celebrate National School Counselor Week!
