MOUNT VERNON – Noah, a junior at the Knox Learning Center, glanced at the overcast sky outside Knox Memorial Theater.
“Rain, just stay away,” he said.
Noah was one of four Learning Center students preparing to help lead approximately 600 first-graders into the theater for the Oct. 14 Youth Enrichment Series (YES) program.
The four, wearing Student Leadership Team shirts, are key assistants to Taylor Gingery, the gifted/enrichment coordinator at the Knox Educational Service Center (ESC). Gingery manages all aspects of the nine-program YES series, Sept. 11-Oct. 21, which is facilitated by the ESC.
Performances provide a live theater experience for elementary children from Centerburg, Danville, East Knox, Fredericktown, Mount Vernon and St. Vincent de Paul.
“I like helping the little kids, keeping an eye on them,” Noah said. “One part of our role as student leaders is helping with safety.”
For 20 minutes before the 10 a.m. performance by singer/storyteller Sarah Goslee Reed the student leaders led county first-graders, their teachers and aides to designated seating areas on the theater’s main floor and in the balcony. After the one-hour program they helped to lead the children outside to their waiting buses.
The Knox Learning Center is a K-12 alternative school operated by the ESC in the former Mount Vernon West Elementary.
ESC Superintendent Dr. Timm Mackley said the Student Leadership Team members are examples of Learning Center success stories.
“Students come to the Learning Center for different reasons and not all are related to behavior or attendance,” he said. “Some have personal issues while others simply function better in smaller classroom settings with more one-to-one attention.”
Last year the Learning Center graduated 14 students who met the same academic requirements demanded of all high school seniors.
Mackley praised the student leaders for demonstrating “maturity, responsibility and personal growth” while maintaining their academic work.
Gingery described the team’s contribution as “absolutely essential” to the success of the YES series.
“I’m so incredibly thankful for their help each time,” she said. “Truly, they have exceeded my expectations since day one.”
Gingery said the student leaders demonstrated individual strengths and quickly learned to function as a team.
During the performance the team conducts regular “rounds,” during which they monitor the theater.
“I trained them to walk the aisles in a way that does not disrupt audience viewing, but makes their role visible to teachers who might need to page me on the walkie or have a question the student leaders are able to answer,” Gingery said.
Her relationship with the student leadership team won’t end when the YES series concludes.
“I am keeping notes so I can write letters of recommendation they can keep for their future job/program endeavors,” Gingery said.