A Lesson in Good Taste

Being proactive tastes a lot like chocolate ice cream! At least it did for Lower School students on October 15, when Acting Principal Jane Harrison surprised each class with the sweet treat. Donning an apron and pushing a red and white checkered cart, Harrison entered each classroom to the familiar jingle of an ice cream truck.

But it wasn’t just fun. Every School activity has a lesson behind it. The ice cream surprise was tied to the Lower School’s weekly rally, held earlier that morning, and reinforced a leadership habit all K–5 students have been focused on: Being Proactive. At the rally, students listened to IDEA Center Librarian Karin Butterfield read the book I Campaigned for Ice Cream by Suzanne Jacobs Lipshaw. The upbeat, heartwarming, and true story is about Joshua Lipshaw, who, as a nine-year-old, was proactive in petitioning his local government to change an outdated law preventing ice cream trucks from driving through his town.

After the ice cream “truck” visited their classroom neighborhood, Lower School students discussed other ways to be proactive: helping the PE teacher set up equipment before class, moving a friend’s bike to shelter before rain came, or offering to do another’s chores at home to free a parent for some extra “together” time. 

Being Proactive is one of Stephen R. Covey’s seven principles in his Habits of Highly Effective People. The Lower School works with a different habit each month to promote modeling leadership behavior and seeing the good in others. Rallies, community service events, and team-building activities boost the habit. Now, Lower School students know that—like ice cream—being a leader comes in many flavors!