Good Morning Faculty, Please Allow Me 5 Minutes of Your Time

Good morning faculty, please allow me 5 minutes of your time:

Today begins the process for selecting the 2014-2015 Bowie PALS. Between now and next Tuesday, January 28, I will be taking your nominations for the students you think are deserving of a shot at being PALS. These students must be current sophomores or juniors that you currently teach or have taught in the past. Please use the following criteria when evaluating students for nomination:

1. Character- I define character using a quote from legendary basketball coach John Wooden, “Character is who you are when no one is watching.” PALS should be students who have impeccable character. Their daily life should exhibit excellence always, no matter if they are in the classroom, on the playing field, around their friends, or around their teachers. I want students who would more likely be volunteering somewhere than out at a party at 2 am on a Friday night. Please consider your best “character kids” when nominating your students. Character is the single most important quality I want to see in PALS.

2. Helpfulness and Reliability- PALS should be the students that are the first ones to lend a helping hand to you whenever you may need help around your classroom, or to a struggling student who may just need a friendly voice encouraging them. PALS should be able to work with anyone, and do so with a positive attitude. We all have students that we know we can rely on to get a task done, and to complete it better than we expected. Those students with initiative, a helpful spirit and a reliable personality are perfect candidates for PALS.

3. Selflessness and Humility- I want students in PALS who understand what it means to put others before themselves. Students that volunteer their time at local hospitals, non-profit organizations, and church camps, as well as those students who are active in service organizations around Bowie. PALS should also be humble, not students who “toot their own horn.” Being chosen to help positively impact the lives of young children is a big privilege, and PALS should always retain a sense of humility.

4. Leadership- PALS should be students that demonstrate strong leadership capabilities. These are the students that lead by example, letting their daily lives earn the respect of their peers and teachers alike. A key component in PALS is the “L,”-leadership. In PALS, students develop skills to help them continually grow as leaders, and it is important to have PALS worthy of being considered strong leaders on campus.

5. Thoughtfulness- PALS should be students that, though unprompted, will always offer a “Good morning,” “Good afternoon,” “How are you?” or “Have a nice day.” There is something to be said for manners, and I want students in PALS that still know what that means. They will be representing Bowie through interactions with staff at several of our feeder schools, and it’s important for them to make a positive impression.

Please allow some time over the next week to think about the students you teach or have taught that meet the above criteria. Please nominate a MAXIMUM of 5 students that you feel would make great PALS, students that will one day be working with children, helping them adjust to a new school, with academic struggles, or coping with the loss of a parent. These students must be the best of the best, I want to have supreme confidence that next year when we travel to our feeder schools, I’m taking the most helpful, thoughtful, reliable, and humble students Bowie has to offer.

You now play the biggest role in this whole process, nominating your “best of the best” students. Please don’t nominate a student just because they ask you to, unless you really feel they meet all the characteristics listed above. I care about YOUR opinion and judgment about your students; I don’t care if a student wants to be in PALS because it’s a “cool class.” Please give this some thought over the next week and email me the names of your nominees with a brief description of each if you have the time. Nomination letters will be put into your box next Thursday, January 30 for distribution.

Thanks for your time, your thoughtful consideration, and your support of the PALS program,

Alejandro

For anyone unfamiliar with the PALS program: PALS stands for “Peer Assistance, Leadership and Service.” PALS is a class where students travel to local feeder schools, three elementary and one middle school, and serve as mentors to students who need a positive influence in their life for one reason or another. Each Bowie PAL has a “PALee” at each school, and over the course of the year, they develop a positive relationship with that student, helping them work through academic/personal/social issues and just simply being their friend.