As Cullman County’s only 5-6 grade school, West Point Intermediate is already blazing a trail all its own — but principal Shane Barnette wants to make sure his campus stands out in a few other areas, as well.

Over the past four years, West Point Intermediate has made the journey to become an official The Leader in Me school, which included specialized training and professional development for teachers and staff. The plans and programs implemented over the past few years caught the attention of the team behind The Leader in Me Symposium, leading the organization to invite Barnette and six other teachers to come and present their plan at a seminar as part of the summit. They’re set to present at the event this weekend.

“Ever since I became principal, we did different themes, and one year we focused on leadership,” Barnette said. “At that point, we learned more about the process of being a Leader in Me school and started down that path. That evolved into finding a way to get the staff and students all involved.”

Barnette said the major focus for his campaign has been on changing the culture of school itself, and creating an environment where students are pushed and encouraged to succeed.

“We don’t talk about what you’re going to do it you graduate,” he said. “We talk about what you’re going to do when you graduate. We want this to be like a family where we support each other. We’ve got to change the mindset of our kids.”

That approach echoes out from the halls themselves, where dozens of photos adorn the walls, showcasing students and several different events that have taken place over the past few years. Students are also taught to respond with “Yes, ma’am,” and “Yes, sir,” when speaking with adults, and they even focus on soft job skills by requiring “job applications” and “interviews” for positions such as Lost and Found Patrol, Recycling Squad and School Greeter. Barnette said it all comes back to creating a culture that encourages success, and helps solidify the skills necessary for success later in life.

Barnette also makes a point to take his fifth grade class on a tour of the county school’s career center each year, to give them a taste of what high school and the working world is like. After that, students are tasked with class projects to consider the type of career they might like to pursue, and the school also hosts an annual career day for students to learn more about dozens of different jobs.

That “family” approach also extends to the staff, and Barnette said they’ve done bonding trips in recent years to places like Breakout Birmingham to help foster a closer and more collaborative working environment.

“When you’ve gone through something like that together, it’s a whole lot easier to get real and dig into grading data,” Barnette said.

Many of the ideas come from The Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Ga., and Barnette jokingly admitted that if you’re going to steal, you might as well steal from the best. The Academy is a nationally recognized, non-profit school that has helped pioneer several unique programs over the years.

“We take a group of teachers there every year to tour and see how they do things, then we try to bring some of those ideas back here,” Barnette said. 

Fifth grade students Abigail Ray and Jared Smith will be providing a video recording to introduce the West Point Intermediate team at the symposium this weekend, and Smith said the Leader in Me program has changed the way he approaches everything from school projects, to life itself.

“I’ve learned you have to have a plan,” he said. “Like, if you’re going to do a book report, you don’t just start writing it — you plan out what you’re doing before.”