"Words of wisdom are
shaping attitudes at Oscar Smith High"
Eight words have made Sid Savoy a minor celebrity at Oscar Smith
High School.
Every morning, he gives the entire school the option to have a great
day: "the choice is yours; the choice is mine."
Morning announcements
at Oscar Smith address more than bake sales and meetings. Savoy
is the guy who delivers messages about character from a package
called "Project Wisdom."
"The school is
very interested in character education," said Principal Janet
M. Andrejco. "All the schools in Chesapeake are involved in
'Character Counts' activities, but we chose this because it is a
bit more in-depth."
"Project Wisdom" is
the name of the for-profit, Texas based organization founded in
1992 by Leslie Luton Matula, a long-time school volunteer and professional
writer. Matula designed for a Houston middle school a set of messages
and other materials she hoped would "actively foster responsible,
caring and ethical student behavior," according to the company's
literature.
Oscar Smith purchased the first of three series of announcements
that sell for $300-$350. The school earns a lifetime license for
using the purchased material…. Discounts are offered for schools
with fewer than 300 students.
Each series contains a school year's worth of announcements that
cover sets of character qualities in several categories: honesty
and integrity, responsible citizenship and role models.
"Mr. Savoy is the epitome of what we're trying to do in character
education," Andrejco said. "He's always had a positive
influence on the people at school. The way he is with the kids made
him the right person to do this."
Students who have taken Savoy's driver's education classes or experienced
the 26-year teaching veteran's coaching in football or wrestling
are familiar with his distinctive voice and upbeat attitude. Staff
members and some students remember watching him rebound from personal
tragedy after his first wife died of cancer a few years ago.
He inspired them all, Andrejco said.
Savoy's new bride of several months, Lynn, an employment education
teacher at Oscar Smith, says the results are evident at the school.
"It's pretty wonderful when teachers and students stop you
in the hallway and say something, and that happens to Sid all the
time," she said. "You hear 'the choice is yours, the choice
is mine' every day in classes and in the hall. When you hear that,
you know something's working."
It's all "pretty neat stuff" to Sid.
He reads quotes from Goethe, Anne Frank, Ralph Waldo Emerson in
messages that address cordiality, character and self-responsibility:
"The music that can deepest reach and cure all ills is cordial
speech (Emerson);"
"Parents can only give good advice or put their children on
the right path, but the final forming of a person's character lies
in their own hands (Frank);"
"If you treat a man as he is, he will stay as he is; but, if
you treat him as if he were what he ought to be, and could be, he
will become that bigger and better man (Goethe)."
Then Savoy reads the rest of the one-minute missives that give examples
that students - and staff - can relate to:
"When you were very small and learning to walk, everyone around
you was very encouraging. They probably said things like 'Come on!
You can do it!' With all that encouragement from others, learning
to walk was much easier …. I wonder what would have happened
if everyone around you had expected you to crawl the rest of your
life."
Savoy decided to bring the messages closer to home by adding his
own daily touch: "With something to think about, this is Sid
Savoy. Make it a great day … or not. The choice is yours. The
choice is mine."
"I have become a real person to people now," Savoy said.
"Students will hear me talking and they'll come up to me in
the hall and say, 'hey, aren't you the guy from the morning thing?
That's pretty cool.' "
To Savoy, a simple morning announcement program has become as much
fuel for his personal credo as it is a potential tool for student
character.
"Teaching is one of the few professions where your labor comes
back to you," he said. "When a student comes back and
says 'hi,' it's like another payday. And
with these messages, no matter what's going on, no matter when,
whether it's tragic or magic, you've always got something to come
to."
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