Buffalo Ridge students drill manners before spring break
Article by Anthonette Klinkerman
As the snow fell outside the day before spring break, inside Buffalo Ridge Elementary students were using magic words, saluting, and shouting out, “Ma’am, yes, ma’am!” as “Colonel Klinkerman” put them through their etiquette paces.
“There’s no giggling in Courtesy Bootcamp!” she cried, causing the students to erupt in laughter. “I assign push-ups for that,” she warned.
Courtesy Bootcamp was invited to help illustrate the character education theme of courtesy for the month of March. The first group of kindergarten through second graders had a little difficulty telling right from left at the start of the drill, but they laughed throughout the assembly.
“It’s been a long time since school started, so now is a good time to remember the rules for the school, from the classroom to the playground.” Klinkerman asked the students to repeat all the magic words, from please to excuse me, and added I’m sorry to the list. Principal Ally Berggren was game to come up and demonstrate how some people say the magic words without really meaning them.
A few teachers came up to help act out some of the behaviors they would rather not see in the classroom, such as leaving trash all over and interrupting others. The third through fifth graders laughed and clapped as Klinkerman drilled their teachers, making the teachers salute and stand in a straight row.
The presentation included reminders about behavior in the cafeteria, on the bus, and in the hallway, as well as how to speak courteously to adults and how to treat friends. Klinkerman said she still remembered being bullied on the bus when she was in school. “And I’m old!” she joked. She recited her favorite quote by Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said and forget what you did, but they will never forget the way you made them feel.”
At the end of the assembly, two young men approached the Colonel, saluted, and shook her hand. One other young man even dropped to do three pushups. The student body surely saluted a few of their teachers the rest of the day, having been reminded of the common courtesies that make schools and the rest of the world a much nicer place.
To learn more about Courtesy Boot Camp, visit www.CourtesyBootCamp.com.
