1)  Establish a Pass-It-Forward club.  (www.dosomething.org)

     Appoint officers to oversee: vice president, secretary, treasurer, and publicist.

Students who want to take part to meet and discuss their own visions so that they can come up with their own unique ways to help.

Challenge everyone to create his or her own project or play a role in another member’s project.

2)  Show the Pass-It-On movie to a large audience in one of the following ways:

     Play it in the OPHS pavilion on some night and get the word out for students, parents, and teachers from all of OPUSD to attend.

     Arrange to play it at that Rancho Simi Recreational center in Oak Park to make it a community event.

3)  Pass-It-Forward through the peer counseling freshmen mentoring program.

     The pass-it-forward message can be incorporated into one of the sessions.

     Invite freshmen to write a one-page essay outlining a plan to better the school. The student with the best plan will be appointed ambassador to the pass-it-forward movement for that class and he/she will lead his/her class to carry the plan into action.

     Have everyone set up a mission statement for what they want to accomplish during high school and challenge them to hang it up where they can see it everyday

4)  Bring the movement into the middle and elementary schools.

     Have an assembly in the middle school and each elementary school where Arlan Berglas/Greg Reid or comparable, and Pass-It-Forward Ambassadors expose the students and faculty to the pass-it-on movement.

     Appoint a faculty member from each school to be the Pass-It-Forward advisor from that school, and select student volunteers to be Ambassadors to lead the movement

     Arrange for a meeting once a month in which the officers of the club meets with Mr. Berglas and the ambassadors for each school to brainstorm and follow up on ideas

5)  Set up an OPUSD-wide student-mentoring project.

     Extensions of the buddy system to match older students with younger students so that they can increase self esteem and give advice.

     Have sign-ups for mentors and protégés in which they list the areas that they want to mentor and be mentored in.

6)  Getting the word out

     Get celebrity spokespeople from Oaks Christian onboard.

     Make phone calls/meet with local businesses to promote and sponsor the movement.

     Spread the message through local newspapers- The Acorn, The VenturaCounty Star.

     Encourage art students to take part in a competition to design the logo and flag.

Application

 

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers DUNKAROO—Oak Park High School Assistant Principal Stewart McGugan shakes off the water after being dunked by junior Matt Resnick in the background. McGugan was drenched as part of the Beginning Peer Counseling Program's Acts of Kindness Day fundraiser to benefit Many Mansions, Alzheimer's Disease and the American Cancer Society. All the fun took place on May 18 in Oak Park.