The students and staff at Ross Elementary celebrated Unity Day on Wednesday an event that draws attention to the issue of bullying. Unity Day is organized by PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center and October is designated as National Bullying Prevention Month.

Orange is the designated color for Unity Day, which is convenient for Ross students because their school colors are orange and black. Counselor Susan Garcia found the website www.PACER.org through ECISD's Anti-bullying Boot Camp website, the link to which can be found on the ECISD home page.

In addition to joining Unity Day, Ms. Garcia is also scheduling class time and library time to talk to students about bullying, how to deal with it, and ideas on how to prevent it.

During their lunch periods, Ross students signed a banner that reads "The End of Bullying Begins with U." The banner will now be hung on the cafeteria wall as a reminder of their pledge to help stop bullying!

This montage of pictures is from the first day of the new ECISD Student Leadership Series held September 26 at Odessa High School. This series is a partnership between Stonegate Fellowship in Midland and our school district that brings top youth motivational speakers to our secondary schools two days per month. The man with the microphone in the picture on the left is former Harlem Globetrotter Melvin Adams. He is the leader in this effort and is scheduled to come each month with another speaker. Melvin quickly connects with the kids through humor but he also tells of growing up in an abusive home and how a counselor changed his attitude simply by telling him "you're awesome," every day. "When you know you have value, the sky is the limit," Melvin told the kids.

Melvin's partner in September was #64 Leonard Larramore (pictured on the right), a former NFL player with the Buffalo Bills. He showed off his strength by ripping a phone book in half and doing pushups with students standing on his back! Like Melvin, Leonard spoke to the kids about making good choices, about setting goals and doing things today that will help them achieve those goals. He played junior college football and then went to work as a school security officer. He told the kids he didn't think he was living up to his ability so he made up his mind to train and try out for an NFL team. One year later he was playing for the Bills. "You'll always face obstacles in life," he told the group. "You're not a winner and you're not a loser; you're a chooser" based on how you deal with those obstacles.

Over two days the two men gave presentations at OHS, Bowie, Crockett, Ector, and the Alternative Center. In October, Melvin will return with Zeeda Veal, a Hip Hop artist and speaker who has a powerful story for young women. Thanks to thank Stonegate for including ECISD in this venture, which the church began in Midland last year.

Congratulations to Bonham Junior High 7th-grader Frederick Henderson who won the Outstanding Youth Volunteer at the 2012 W.D. Noel Volunteer of the Year Awards in September. Frederick was nominated by VIPS coordinator Debbie Rogers for his work as a Junior VIP at Dowling Elementary where he gave 199 hours of his time each year for three years coordinating Food 2 Kids, helping as a library assistant, cafeteria assistant, and serving on the breakfast and recycling teams.