Students at Arrowwood School are making bank deposits and their classmates are getting rich as a result.
The practice has nothing to do with finances, however, and everything to do with emotional investments.
The Palliser school launched its Emotional Banks campaign at a recent Pink Shirt Day assembly. After talking about the importance of standing up to bullying, students and staff discussed how to fill each other’s emotional bank accounts. Providing encouragement to others not only benefits the person receiving the uplifting comment, it makes the individual who is offering the compliments feel good.
The practice aligns with the 4th habit of “The Leader in Me Program,” Think Win-Win, which is based on Stephen Covey’s book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”
At Arrowwood every staff member and student have either a pink piggy bank or bank vault mounted on their locker or door. They are urged to write notes on coin cut-outs with specific compliments, words of encouragement or a celebration of each other’s successes and deposit them in other students’ banks.
The kinds of messages being shared to date include compliments about behaviours, school work accomplishments, extra-curricular accomplishments and notes celebrating each other’s strengths. The information on the coins can be shared with others, if the recipient so chooses, or it can be kept for their own eyes only.
Arrowwood Emotional Bank Photos
