Teachings of a Six-Year-Old

"I am special, Yes I am / I am Special, Yes I am / Don’t misuse me, don’t won’t abuse me / I’ll just R-E-S-P-E-C-T me.

 You are Special, Yes You are / You are special, yes you are / I won’t misuse you, I won’t abuse you / I’ll just R-E-S-P-E-C-T you."

This is just one of the cheers that Lenaro, one of Metanoia’s six grade Young Leaders led as he took our Karaoke mike on the Metanoia’s Martin Luther King Day Float.  Participation in the Martin Luther King Day Parade has become a tradition at Metanoia.  For the past three years, Metanoia partner Verdi Architecture has donated a truck and trailer that we convert into a float with posters of Dr. King and other decorations. 

This year we took along a small microphone and mid-way through the parade, Lenaro took over from the adults who had been leading cheers on the microphone to show off his exceptional presence as a Young Leader.  Lenaro led cheers for the last half of the parade including leading entire blocks in the cheer above along with choruses of This Little Light of Mine.  At Metanoia we believe students are exceptional community assets who do not need to wait until the future to exercise their leadership skills.  Lenaro shows that leaders can be grown even at age six.