First Posted: 3/20/2015
LIMA — Good behavior can mean good soup with good company for some students at Lima North Middle School.
Well-behaved students are regularly rewarded for their behavior at North Middle School, but a select few were nominated by teachers to spend some time with the school’s superintendent.
The event, Soup with the Super, “is not something that we’ve done before and in talking with some of (the students) who were selected … they were really excited,” teacher Trent Miller said, who helped organize the event.
Jill Ackerman has held many positions at Lima schools, so she was able to share her expertise with students.
“If you could change one thing about the school, what would it be?” Ackerman asked the students over a bowl of soup. “Bullying,” sixth grader Lynnae Wheeler said. Ackerman said to always stick up for yourself, to stand up to the bullies and to tell a teacher.
Ackerman asked the students about classes they enjoy, why they enjoy them, what they liked about the school, testing, and simply chatted over soup.
“I’m really proud that you all earned this,” Ackerman said to the students. “I’ll be happy to come back and do it again.”
This event is the first of its kind and it was well-received, said Ackerman, who was “more than happy” with how the event turned out. Students were ready with well-thought-out questions and were interested in Ackerman’s position, she said.
Though Ackerman spends the majority of her time at the high school, she said it was important to connect with the younger students.
Fifth grader Laziah Williams said she enjoyed meeting with Ackerman and learned that Ackerman held many positions within Lima schools before, such as principal and was a teacher.
“This is for students who are always doing a good job, also those who are having an unusually good week or an unusually good month because we find that when we catch those kids at the right time with reinforcing good behavior with something positive,” Miller said.
“We work with them really hard to turn some of their negative behaviors around and once they do, we overwhelm them with the positive,” he said.
Kids selected are “model” students who are respectful and make positive choices, Miller said. Teachers are able to nominate students for Soup with the Super, or other events such as teacher-versus-student dodge ball games, popcorn parties or ice cream parties.
