I am a Kid at Hope
Please stand for the Kids @ Hope Pledge.
It’s one of the first things we do everyday during the morning announcements. You always hear yourself and your classmates say these words, but do you actually listen to yourself and know why we say this on a daily basis?
We have been doing the Kids @ Hope pledge ever since the Imagine Prep’s doors opened. Our school has adopted the Kids @ Hope Pledge to benefit students mentally, to encourage them that they can be successful.
Principal Chris McComb explained how the Kids @ Hope Pledge all started.
“Kids @ Hope is actually a local organization and Rick Miller is the CEO,” McComb said. “He did research at Arizona State University in regards to what do successful kids need, what happens when kids start to find success, and what is success. I think in the 80’s, education was determined at risk. I think this was Rick Miller’s attempt to directly battle that because why do you want to think about kids being at risk when you can think about kids being at hope. So I think it was like a paradox, a paradigm shift if you will, in terms of let’s not look at these kids for what they don’t have and lets try to find out what they do have and build on that.”
Assistant Principal Amanda Mecca empathizes the importance of the Kids @ Hope Pledge and what it really means to her, and hopes it means the same to all of the students at Imagine Prep.
“Kids are smart and it doesn’t matter if they’re book smart, if they’re street smart, or if they’re really intelligent in one area than the other of life,” Mecca said. “There is always something that kids can do. They are capable of success, no exceptions. Any kid can be successful; they have to find something that they are successful with. So you might not be successful in every aspect of your life but you can find one aspect of your life where you are successful in and that’s exactly what the Kids @ Hope Pledge stands for.”
Recently, there has been a new guest speaker to the morning announcements. Exceptional student and seventh-grader, Darien Stadelman was able to say the Kids @ Hope Pledge on the announcements the week of Dec. 4.
Terri Leach, one of Stadelman’s teachers, explained why he was chosen to have the special role.
“Well, he was the first in his class to remember it,” Leach said. “He’s always super excited and shows enthusiasm to recite it every morning. From now on every Monday morning until the end of the school year he will be saying the Kids @ Hope Pledge.”
“Saying the Kids @ Hope Pledge is my favorite, my voice goes across the whole school,” Stadelman said.
Stadelman feels the Kids @ Hope pledge serves as a benefit to all students.
“It reminds kids that you can do good in school,” Stadelman said.
Students and teachers see eye to eye when it comes to the Kids @ Hope pledge and understand the significance of the pledge.
Eighth-grader Gavyn Solper believes that the pledge makes us stay on top of our game in terms of our education.
“The pledge makes us continually know that we should always try to reach for our dreams and stay focused in school,” Solper said. “It inspires us to set goals and follow them.”
Freshman Ryley Youngs, who also does the morning announcements, explained the motives of the Imagine Prep staff members and how they want to have an impact on students.
“Our teachers really believe in us and so does the staff,” Youngs said. “They just really want us to succeed in life and in general, not only in our academics.”
The Kids @ Hope Pledge holds a huge amount of significance to Imagine Prep and it means so much more than some people think. Success won’t come to you in every aspect of life, and everyday is a new day; it’s a new chance to try again. It’s a constant reminder that students can do anything they set their mind to. It makes every single student say that they are a kid at hope. That they are talented, smart and capable of success. That they have dreams for the future, and they will climb reach those goals and dreams, every day, no exceptions.