“Inspiring Greatness in Tomorrow’s Leaders.”

A number of years ago, I was fortunate enough to be asked to open a newly constructed school in the school district where I was a principal.?Opening a new school was a great deal of effort; but it was easily one of the most exciting, rewarding and memorable times in my professional life.?

When I was formulating ideas for opening this school, I knew that I wanted to empower students and make sure that collectively, parents, staff, students, did everything we could to help our learners be their personal best and provide them an opportunity to do and be whatever they wanted in life.?From this desire, stemmed our school’s mission, “Inspiring Greatness in Tomorrow’s Leaders.”?

Student Leadership

From the day we opened, student leadership was our foundation, and getting students to understand that, when we spoke about leadership and greatness; what we were really desiring for our students was to make the most of their unique talents and gifts by developing personal habits of success.?

I have always enjoyed reading and utilizing the ideas from Stephen Covey and I especially love his ideas from the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Primary Greatness: The 12 Levers of Success and Speed of Trust. For our students, I would often share what Covey described as primary greatness; which is controlling those qualities that we have complete control over, qualities such as persistence, attitude, perseverance and character, that as Covey explains, are within our “circle of influence.”

Primary Greatness

?In Primary Greatness: The 12 Levers of Success, Covey explains the importance of working on the inside out and that if one attempts to reach success by going after secondary greatness - popularity, title, position, fame, fortune, and honor - without primary greatness this doesn’t work. "People," he shared, "don’t build successful lives on the unstable sands of what is outwardly or temporarily popular, but they do build successful lives on the bedrock of principles that do not change.”

In helping to teach students about these concepts, students gained self-efficacy and understood the qualities that lead to successful lives; thus empowering our students. I have thousands of examples of students transforming into confident, self-assured, intrinsically motivated and interdependent students who have an authentic pride in themselves and their school. There's nothing more rewarding to see students blossom; and it's why educators do what they do.

Helping Students Thrive in Tomorrow’s World

When the World Economic Forum released a list of the?Top 10 skills for 2025 , skills such as resilience, stress tolerance, flexibility, leadership, social influence and initiative are going to be needed in abundance in the future of work. Clearly, and as adults, we all know this, that having self-management skills and knowing how to work with people are keys to having a successful and fulfilling life and career.

Success in School & in Life

Since its founding in 1999 by Dr.?Avraham Kadar, BrainPOP has been continuously innovating to prepare students to become the leaders of tomorrow.

This commitment is to not just the content knowledge and academic topics and skills that students need to be successful in school; but also to teaching the emotional intelligence and pro-social skills that are needed in the in the world of work and life in general.?BrainPOP's mission, "To empower kids to shape the world around them and within them," is centered and aligned to this concept of primary greatness and student leadership. If one searches BrainPOP's topics, one will find topics that will help students develop the attributes that employers are looking for: Empathy, Determination, Mindfulness, Digital Etiquette, Setting Goals, Getting Help, Sleep, Gratitude, Conflict Resolution, Courage and Perseverance, Fitness, Nutrition, Responsible Decision Making and Growth Mindset. These topics explicitly teach students how to be their personal best and find primary greatness.

Seeing Leaders, Past & Present in themselves

Students need to be able to see themselves in the stories that they read, in the media that they engage with and in the educators that teach them.?As Nicole Nover wrote in, A Promise to Our Students: Including Diversity in Literature ,

?“Everyone has the right to see themselves in the stories that they come across, especially in school when they are learning about who they are in the world…If students see themselves authentically represented in the media they engage with, these stories validate their identities. They are reminded that stories can be created for them, not just something they’re forced to learn in school.”

BrainPOP is very aware of this, and has characters in their movies that are diverse and relatable to students, and BrainPOP has biographies (130+) of leaders past and present that allow our students to see themselves in leaders around the world that have made a positive impact.

Inspiring Greatness in Tomorrow’s Leaders

Educators have an enormous and lasting influence to shape students’ lives and provide students the opportunities that all students deserve.?Additionally, this impact is not limited to students’ academic success; but also, their social-emotional well-being, and the ability to have an upwards trajectory in life!?When we combine these entities, we are able to inspire greatness in tomorrow’s leaders, help students thrive in school and beyond, and, as BrainPOP’s Mission states, we “empower kids to shape the world around them and within them.”