Thanksgiving meal at Jefferson School offers opportunity to show leadership skills

Student volunteers took on leadership roles in the cafeteria of Jefferson Elementary as 100 fourth-grade students and family members shared in a Thanksgiving meal made possible by Red Letter Communications.

Instead of purchasing a gift for their boss' Oct. 31 birthday, Red Letter Communications staff surprised their CEO and founder Jim Riley by donating a Thanksgiving feast in his honor.

Homemade helpings of stuffing, smoked turkey and ham, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole began to fill a table at the front of the cafeteria room Tuesday afternoon as fourth-grade students eagerly awaited their assigned task at the serving table.

"Who's on bean duty?" Jefferson's STREAM specialist Kelley Branch asked a group of students standing near the serving line.

Just as quickly, the educator turned her question into an opportunity to instill values of inclusion and leadership.

"Collin, I'm so glad you're here!" Branch said with enthusiasm. "We need you."

With Collin in charge of the corn and Jefferson student servers stationed at each stop on the food line, students and families filled seats at every table in the cafeteria just after noon.

Kaden Lanier received the feast's first slices of ham and the meal was officially underway as Riley took up his post at the head of the serving line where he plated hearty helpings of meat and merriment for each guest.

The local advertising executive cooked five turkeys for the feast and said his cooking process takes about eight hours, plus 12 hours of brining the chicken in salt and fruit juices the night before.

Riley said he uses multiple recipes, with one being a sweetly seasoned "Maple Magic" turkey made with maple syrup and another dubbed "Spicy Nicey," which calls for a combination of sage, garlic and rosemary.

Branch said she hopes events like this one will help inspire members of the fourth-grade class to become student leaders at Jefferson Elementary as the educational infrastructure undergoes transitions in the next few years.

In December, the school district announced plans to expand enrollment at Jefferson to include fifth- and sixth-grade students. The school district plans for Jefferson's current class of fourth graders to become its first class of fifth-graders in the upcoming academic year, and its first class of sixth-graders in the subsequent academic year.

The transition period would cement the class' seniority status at the school for the next three years. Jefferson educators hope the institutional conundrum can also provide unique opportunities for the current fourth-grade students to grow as leaders as the school grows in enrollment.

"We want to pour as much leadership and mentorship into them, because they are the leaders and the mentors of our school," Branch said. "We just want our kids to know that opportunities are endless in our community, but also that there are leaders among us and leaders within us."

Riley said he appreciates the elementary school's ideas for student leadership initiatives, describing them as "dynamic" and "innovative."

"The leadership [at Jefferson Elementary] seems to have really embraced new approaches to education, and building a culture, and building an atmosphere where people get excited about learning," Riley said.

Impact Project

According to Branch, all 50 fourth graders are participants in the Jefferson Elementary Impact Project, which pairs local officials with students based on career interests.

Many of the Impact Project pairings sat together for the meal, such as 10-year-old TJ Brown who ate with his mother on one side and his mentor, Cape Girardeau schools superintendent Neil Glass, on the other. Brown said he wants to be a police officer like his grandfather when he grows up.

"TJ is going to be a good leader," Glass said. "He's already showed a lot of skills that it takes to be a good leader, and I'm very proud of him."

With the meal winding down, students manned stations behind rolling dessert carts and took to the cafeteria's aisles to provide their guests with hospitality and service. Fourth-grader Luis Mendez worked diligently to distribute his cart of desserts amongst his peers, but had to pause when he was met with a question he had not prepared to answer.

"Seconds?" a classmate asked.

Uncertain how to answer appropriately, the young leader did his best to think on his feet and resolve the situation smoothly -- by quietly complying with the classmate's request without attracting too much attention.

At another table, a group of students had just finished eating. Their high-energy conversation suggested a Thanksgiving nap was not on the schedule.

The students' socialization began with a debate about which food was best, and then moved into discussions about their differing plans to visit family members over Thanksgiving break.

Despite their occasional disagreements, the group of girls were in resolute agreement on one point -- a Thanksgiving meal with their school family was just as fun as one with their biological family.

"It's so fun," 9-year-old Jefferson student Jiliah Grace Geiger said as she began pointing around the crowded room. "That's my family; that's my family; that's my family. Everybody in here [is] my family."

When asked whether the afternoon camaraderie in the cafeteria could be attributed to the food, fourth-grader Clarissa Walker briefly considered the idea before confidently offering her alternative explanation of what brought everyone together for the holidays.

"God does."