Character Strengths in Action During Heritage Week At Clovis Elementary

This article was written by Milena Wilson, Guidance Instructional Specialist at Clovis Elementary School in the Clovis Unified School District in California. Milena has been an educator for 11 years, nine of them teaching high school chemistry before moving into her current role at Clovis Elementary. Heritage Week is an annual November tradition at the school, held the week before Thanksgiving break.

Each November, Clovis Elementary Jaguars plan a Heritage Week focused on celebrating others and giving back to their community. Heritage Week began as a way to celebrate the various backgrounds and cultures that make up Clovis Elementary. We wanted a week where students would learn about different cultures and be celebrated for their own, and where they would feel connected to the school and find parts of themselves reflected in their peers.

Gratitude and the Other People Mindset

Heritage Week falls the week before our Thanksgiving break, so we tie the whole week to two ideas from The Positivity Project (P2): the character strength of gratitude and the Other People Mindset (OPM). Students take part in scheduled activities and assemblies, and they also give back to the community by organizing a canned food drive.

The rest of the week fills in around that. Students make cultural pennants to showcase what is unique to them, and we run multicultural activities at recess.

A Dance Lesson From the Indian Culture Club

New this year, the Indian Culture Club from the neighboring high school came to Clovis Elementary and taught students traditional dance moves during lunch recess. Students gathered in the amphitheater to learn from the high schoolers.

In previous years, the club has come to perform, and they have always been a hit with our students. This year, the idea came up to make it more interactive and have the club lead a dance lesson instead. Students learned three traditional dance moves and performed them alongside the high school students. Afterward, they had the chance to ask questions and talk with the club members. Their questions were thoughtful and showed real interest in and appreciation for the culture.

One moment from that lesson really stood out. A student told us he was excited because this is how his family dances at home, and he went on to share his own experiences and culture with the other students in the lesson. Seeing how excited he was reminded us how much it matters for students to see cultures like their own represented on our campus.

The Interactive African Drum Assembly

The students of Clovis Elementary also took part in the Interactive African Drum Assembly at the end of the week. This was the second year we have hosted it, and both students and staff enjoy it.

The African Drum Team is great at engaging students while teaching them about African culture. Students learned about the traditional instruments, how they are made, and how to play them. They learned a short performance in the original language, along with the story of how the song was first written. Some students repeated the chant, some played drums and other instruments, and some learned the dance that goes with it. The assembly ends with a large performance where every student plays a part in creating the music, which shows students what they can do when they work together.

What Heritage Week Changed at Our School

The effect of Heritage Week was felt across the entire campus. It was great to overhear students talking with each other about their own cultures’ traditions, whether that was food, dance, attire, or music. The students took the time to celebrate each other, and they found ways to bond over what they learned about one another.

Heritage Week puts the P2 character strengths into action. Students learned about gratitude, showing thankfulness and seeing the good in others. They demonstrated it by serving their community and learning about each other’s heritage, backgrounds, and traditions. It was a week focused on celebrating each other and our uniqueness, and on showing that Clovis Jags believe other people matter.