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AIS hosts golden rule assembly
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Austintown Intermediate School Principal Jeff Swavel made the introduction before the start of the golden rule assembly.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Half of Austintown Intermediate School's 1,200-member srudent body filled the school's gymnasium for the golden rule assembly.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Austintown Intermediate School students and teachers began to file into the school's gymnasium for the golden rule assembly.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Chloe Anaro gave an introduction before the start of the golden rule assembly. Anaro and LaShawn Parker have been doing the assemblies since August.
By TIM CLEVELAND
Students at Austintown Intermediate School attended a fun assembly that taught them an anti-bullying message using the golden rule.
The school’s 1,200 students in grades 3, 4 and 5 were divided into two groups that crowded the gymnasium to watch the presentation.
The assembly was put on by Chloe Anaro and LaShawn Parker of Camfel Productions, which is based in Los Angeles and has been in existence for 42 years. The event featured a one-minute introduction followed by a showing on three screens of movie clips, cartoons and music that encouraged the children to treat themselves and others with respect.
“Today we’re showing the Golden Rule, which is a version of our Quest for Respect show,” Anaro said. “It’s about having respect for yourself, knowing when to push through the barriers that people put in front of you. Really, just respecting other people.
“It’s really high energy, there’s lots of cartoons and music. It’s really exciting.”
“The intro and conclusion are to set up what’s going to happen on the screens to try and get them to understand what’s about to occur,” Parker said. “The closing is to get them to do a pledge to respect themselves and respect others.”
The program lasted 26 minutes, with a 38-minute show for older students.
“Their attention spans aren’t as great as the older kids,” Parker said.
Anaro and Parker have been doing the shows since August. In three months, they have appeared in 29 states. Doing five to 10 shows per week, they have visited 100-150 schools and performed before approximately 50,000 students.
“There have been schools we’ve gone to where they say, we’ve had you guys for 20 years,” Anaro said. “It’s really cool.”
The message the show sought to impart to the children was respect for oneself and others.
“It’s really important that they understand to respect themselves, because if you don’t respect yourself, then you can’t respect others,” Parker said. “Self-respect begins with appreciating who you are and what you can do, not so much that you keep other people from being successful but understanding your own value and then understanding and appreciating the value in other people.”
“We just want them to know that we don’t tolerate bullying and this is just a nice reinforcement,” AIS Principal Jeff Swavel said. “We’ve used this program for years. It’s very engaging, very lively, popular music and the kids really get into it and they seem to enjoy it.”