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Dear Professional Educator, October 24th is National Make A Difference Day and the best way to do that is through the Power of Acknowledgment.
If 13-year-old Tara Jackson has her way, everyone in Florida will soon know they are special. The eighth grader at Carwise Middle School is organizing a campaign to raise self-esteem among her peers. Last week during three school assemblies, Tara encouraged others to tell a friend, teacher or parent why they make a difference in their life. They then give the person a blue ribbon that says "Who I Am Makes A Difference..." to wear above the heart. Recipients are given more ribboons and asked to pass along some kind words to someone else. The Blue Ribbon movement is part of a larger campaign, Difference Makers International, founded in 1983 by Californian Helice Bridges. Bridges' goal is that every American receive a blue ribbon and that everyone in the world is acknowledged by 2004. Tara was inspired by a story Bridges wrote which appears in Chicken Soup for the Soul. It told how a father, whose life was wrapped up in his work, took the time to give a blue ribbon to his 14-year-old son. The boy replied, "I was planning on committing suicide tomorrow, Dad, because I didn't think you loved me. Now I don't need to." "It really touched my heart," Tara said. "It seems like everyone is telling everybody what they are doing is wrong, not what they are doing right. Maybe if people had higher self-esteem, suicide wouldn't happen." When Tara finished reading the story at 2 a.m., she called Bridges. Within 10 minutes, Bridges had faxed her the information she needed to start a campaign at Carwise. That was in October, shortly after a discussion on suicide in her health class. Tara asked the School Advisory Committee for $400 to buy blue ribbons and acknowledgement cards for her suicide-prevention plan. The group donated $1,100, enough to buy 2,800 ribbons. As she waited for the ribbons to be printed, Tara started thinking bigger. This time she was inspired by another campaign initiator she reached by teleconference with Bridges. In Michigan, 16-year-old Stephanie Sands had a project that reaches her entire city. "I thought about our school motto 'Be the Best' and decided that if I could reach an entire town, I could reach a whole state," Tara said. But how? She read that the Governor of Florida wanted to build a barrier that would block people from jumping from the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and thought to enlist the governor in her blue ribbon campaign. "I thought he could help me spread the word so I wrote him a letter," Tara said. Although he hadn’t yet contacted her, his secretary did. "He's interested," she told Tara. "He'll be in touch." But she's didn’t wait idly for his answer. She's taking her campaign to area businesses, including GTE, where her mother, Angela, works. And she's ordered more ribbons ... 3,000 more to be exact. It seems Tara's classsmates were so eager to spread kind words and blue ribbons, they had to place an additional order Friday, two days after learning how to make a difference. Principal John Leanes was so impressed by the campaign he made it a permanent part of his school plan. Language arts teachers plan to have students build on the Make A Difference philosophy during writing assignments. "Tara is a young lady with a lot of confidence," Leanes said. "She knew exactly what she wanted the outcome to be, and I think it's even greater than she envisioned. That's real leadership." Reaching out to make a world of difference ... Mary Robinson Reynolds & Helice "Sparky" Bridges |
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