I am so blessed and grateful for so many things. Here's a list of just a few things I am thankful during this season:

• My two handsome pups and every day I get to share with them
• The quality time I will get to spend with mom my at the end of this week
• Seeing my nephews and family on Thursday
• Baltimore Ravens football (what a time to be a Ravens fan!)
• My Stewart Family
• My beautiful home (even in its... altered... state)
• My lake and living so close to it
• Sunsets
• Summer! (There's only 189 days until June 1)
• My health and my family's health
• The Indianapolis Motor Speedway (There's only 181 days until the 104th running of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing)
• Christmas movies (especially Elf and It's a Wonderful Life)
• Music (and new music from The Glass Animals)
• Sleeping in
• Hope for the future
• Tomorrow is always a brighter day
• Happiness and laughter
• Coffee
• My Leadership Matters experience
• The kindness and generosity of others

by DJ Manou, WSBT 22 Reporter -- Friday, Nov. 8th, 2019

Lunch time is a time for students to relax. But for one group of kids, today was a special lesson. Stewart Elementary in Stevensville held a free spaghetti lunch for veterans.

Many of the vets have children or grandchildren at the school, which for some might have been just a fun day having family join them for lunch.

But for the school it was a learning lesson, and for the veterans a small token of appreciation.

There was a standing ovation for the men and women.

“Just really great. You can't put in in words. It comes out in tears,” said William Wall, WWII Navy veteran.

Wall cherishes lunch with his grandson, but also the appreciation. "Now, at 95, I look back on it and it was something to be proud of.”

Throughout the tables, parents and grandparents spent the day with their little ones.
Veteran Steven Phenegar was blown away.“To come in and have lunch with my daughter is amazing. I didn’t know things like this existed.”

A family full of veterans, Thais Taylor isn't sure her grandson fully grasps the significance.
“He loves us, but he will be proud of us too once he understands what we have actually done or do for this country.”

That's why principal Samantha Berglan organized the lunch. Fourth-graders have been learning about the military branches and Veteran's Day, but this brings it beyond books. “It was really cool to see them in uniform,” said Berglan. “Sometimes our kids never have the opportunity to see servicemen or servicewomen in their uniforms.”

Phenegar says his daughter started catching on. “She started recognizing that other people were taking notice and it made her stop and think, instead of taking for granted why these people are paying attention to her dad.”

But it was one special moment that summed it all up. Noah Compton, age 8, asking two veterans for their autograph. “My dad’s dad was in WW2, so that’s why I just really wanted to get their signature,” he said. His grandfather has since passed, but he knew he wanted to keep this memory. “That would be like once in a lifetime to do it, so that’s why I did it.”

The veterans not only thanked the kids but the teachers who gave them the opportunity.
Phenegar appreciates restaurants that give discounts on Veteran's Day, but says this event provides a personal touch worth so much more.

Link to Article:
https://wsbt.com/news/local/veterans-and-kids-share-more-than-just-a-lunch

Pictures Below:
1. Picture Included in WSBT News Story
2. Picture included in The Wall Street Journal on November 9, 2019

The Stewart Family is engaged in a unique partnership with Indiana University Bloomington’s Center on Education and Lifelong Learning to focus on school-wide discipline using the PBIS Framework. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a systems approach for establishing the social culture and individualized supports needed for all students to achieve both social and academic success. PBIS is a profound focus on the behaviors you want to see through by prioritizing interventions, developing effective “consequences” and clarifying, teaching and reinforcing desired behaviors.

The Stewart Family refers to its PBIS team as The Synergy Team. The Synergy Team consists of thirteen members from the school community. The team has representatives from kindergarten through fifth grade, specials teachers, the school counselor and the principal. The Synergy Team meets twice a month to develop the PBIS plan, review data and analyze the culture of The Stewart Family.

Seven members of The Synergy Team travel to Indiana University South Bend to participate in six sessions with trainers from Indiana University Bloomington. The sessions focus on developing a multi-year plan for planning, implementing and sustaining the PBIS initiative. The sessions also allow The Synergy Team to further explore culture, implicit bias, race and privilege, and responding to behavioral errors through restorative practices.
The Stewart Family counselor, Mrs. Dayna Galloway, serves as the coach for The Synergy Team. Mrs. Galloway is the heart and soul of The Stewart Family’s PBIS initiative, leading The Synergy Team’s work and keeping the team in close contact with the staff, students and families. She attends five additional training days with the trainers from Indiana University Bloomington and works diligently to promote the new learning The Stewart Family is acquiring.

The Synergy Team has worked collaboratively with The Stewart staff and students to develop five school-wide expectations. Our school-wide expectations are the social principles that guide the behavior of everyone in the school. The Synergy Team and the Stewart staff developed the five expectations of P.R.I.D.E.-- Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Dedication and Empathy. “The Stewart Family has P.R.I.D.E.!” 

The Synergy Team then supported the students at Stewart to create definitions for each expectation.

• Perseverance: We ignore our “quit button” when something is hard.
  
• Respect: We treat people and things with kindness and care.
  
• Integrity: We do what is right, even when no one is watching.
  
• Dedication: We try our best to show it matters.
  
• Empathy: We understand feelings and how our actions and words have power.
  

The Synergy Team is now tasked with developing a school-wide expectations rubric to set clear, culturally responsive behavior rules for the entire Stewart Family. The Synergy Team will also create lesson plans to teach the behavior rules, a reinforcement system to recognize our P.R.I.D.E., and create an adult responsibilities matrix to focus on active supervision. The Stewart Family will continue to grow, develop and reflect upon our systems, data and practices to support student behavior, build cultural knowledge and self-awareness, promote decision-making and to develop social competence and academic achievement.