Chillicothe City Schools is the only district in Ohio in which FranklinCovey's The Leader in Me initiative is being used in all of its elementary schools. It also has been extended to the 6th grade in the middle school.

The Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce funded the start of the initiative when Allen Elementary accepted its offer in 2010 to begin the initiative that uses Dr. Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" as the foundation for learning. Worthington Elementary started it with the 2011-2012 school year and the other schools will implement it by February this year, thanks to a grant from the Ohio Department of Educatin that is closely monitoring the effect of the initiative.

Chamber members have provided more than $70,000 over two years to provide the training of the teachers and staff and to purchase materials.

Jason Fife, principal at Allen Elementary School, writes about what’s happening with the FranklinCovey Leader in Me initiative that is funded by investments from chamber members:

“The Leader in Me is quickly transforming students at Allen Elementary into valuable, proactive leaders.  With the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” being progressively implemented, the students are encouraged to internalize the 7 Habits within the school day and at home.  The 7 Habits are displayed in the hallways, the office, and each classroom.  Every staff member shows support for the program by using the 7 Habits language and modeling the habits for their students.  Information about the 7 Habits has been sent home to families so that our leadership message can be concreted in their daily lives at home as well.

“Personal and classroom mission statements are on display throughout the building in order to emphasize and remind students of their purpose and to establish relevance in their education. Academic and social/emotional goals are set by the students on a weekly basis.  Students also are encouraged to create action steps in order to accomplish their individual goals.  At Allen, the focus has moved from the teaching of students, to meaningful, goal-oriented learning and the development of leaders.

“The Allen staff, students, and families are grateful for the investments made by the Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce and the many community sponsors for providing the Leader In Me program to us.  We are confident that the students that we teach will be able to make valuable contributions to this community in the future.  The leaders that Allen will produce will give prospective employers of this community the type of employees that they wish to employ—“synergizing” team members that “begin with the end in mind.”

The following organizations have made a financial commitment to the initiative:

Glatfelter
Adena Health System
Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce
Litter Corporation
Horizon Chillicothe Telephone
RLS Recycling & Disposal and Charles N. Stevens Family
Kenworth Truck Company
Ross-Chillicothe League of Women Voters
Fluor-B&W Portsmouth
USEC
Halm Investment Services
Lansing Insurance Agency
K&C Educational Associates
Tomlinson Insurance Agency
Preferred Staffing of Ohio
First Capital Rotary Club
WesBanco Bank
Charles J. Halm Insurance and Financial Services
Walmart
Susie Natoli State Farm
The Reserves Network

"The Leader in Me" is transforming the culture in schools all across the United States and the world by using the 7 Habits. Children, starting in kindergarten, learn about taking responsibility for themselves, setting and working toward goals, working as a team and taking initiative. As employers, these are the qualities we value in our employees so this is a chance to get an early start in training our future workers.

To learn how you can become involved, call the chamber at 702-2722. To invest in this initiative: Investment form

To learn more about the initiative, go to www.theleaderinme.org.