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Written by: Jennifer Appel Based on the stories told by: Paul Dowdy “Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself.” Maya Angelou When I was growing up my dad drove a Bronco II, we bought it brand new, so we thought it was the coolest car! It had a wheel on the back that you had to move to open the back door, so cool! We loved that car, BUT it had some bad luck!  One summer day my father was working at school. Everyone else was done for the summer, but he was hard at work getting everything ready for the next school year. He was sitting in the office by himself when he heard someone coming in the building. He looked and a fireman burst into the office area. My dad was the principal of the only school in our small town at the time (we now have 3 elementary schools, and 2 middle schools) and he had a close relationship with all of the officers both fire and police in the area. They were constantly at the school and volunteering with the kids, so he was used to them being in the building or just stopping in. Thus, he didn’t really think much about one of the officers stopping by...  But then the fireman asked whose maroon Ford Bronco II was in the parking lot. My dad nervously answered that it was his, and because it was summer, it was the ONLY car in the parking lot. The fireman said that he had just crashed into the side of the Bronco. My dad laughed thinking that he was getting pranked by the fireman, they were always joking with him and he just thought he was being funny! The fireman then looked him in the eye and stated again that it wasn’t a joke, they had really run into the side of the Bronco that was in the parking lot.  My dad hurried out to the parking lot and sure enough his beloved Bronco was smashed on one side. The crazy part was that you could see that the Bronco had been moved about 4 feet from where he originally parked it. There was a huge dent in the side of the car, approximately the length of the front of a fire engine. Apparently, the firemen were practicing in the parking lot of the school (there fire station was just down the street from the school) and the fireman had set up the cones around my dad’s Bronco to practice. The officer that was practicing had tried to hit the brakes and then his foot slipped and he hit the gas by accident and rammed into the side of my dad’s car. My dad just stood there in shock listening to the story, he couldn’t believe what had happened.  The fireman was apologizing profusely the entire time he was explaining the situation. He said many times that he would pay for the repairs and his Bronco would be as good as new. Now, in a situation like this most people would fly off the handle or not treat the officer with respect and FORGIVENESS. Obviously, my dad was upset about his car being smashed, but he was also understanding that they were just doing their jobs and practicing to save lives.  My dad was able to handle the situation with FORGIVENESS instead of anger. Educators with an AWARD WINNING CULTURE mindset handle tough situations with respect and forgiveness instead of anger. What role does forgiveness play in overcoming adversity? How does empathy support demonstrating respect? Will you create an Award Winning Culture that that's capable of forgiving students, staff, and community...even on their worst day? About the AuthorJennifer Appel is a teacher at Enterprise Middle School. She has been teaching for 20 years. Her passion for education comes from growing up in at education driven family (4th generation) and wanting to help and serve others. She is now driven to create an environment where all students are able to learn and become passionate about serving others. Jennifer can be contacted through email at awardwinningculture@gmail.com. You can follow her on twitter at @jennifermappel. Follow AWC @awculture on instagram @awardwinningculture. Follow Wildcat Nation on instagram @emsleadership. #WildcatNation #AwardWinningCulture
Paul Dowdy is a retired elementary school teacher and principal. Paul was in education for more than 40 years. Paul created cultures of excellence at every school he taught at or lead. Paul was also an adjunct professor at 3 different universities in the state of Washington and a regional director for Heritage University. Paul has shared his stories all around the state of Washington in the form of presentations. He's passionate about children and that reflected in all of his work as a reading specialist and his study of the brain and how that drives instruction. Paul is not on social media...but can be reached near any body of water that's conducive to shadow casting! #FlyFishing
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Written by: Jennifer Appel Based on the stories told by: Paul Dowdy “Students are inherently the most important people entering our school building” -- Jimmy Casas, author of Culturize One of the best character lessons I learned from my father is that you need to interact with your students in an environment outside of the classroom.  Coach for my 4th grade basketball team. This can be as simple as greeting them at the door, playing outside at recess, eating lunch with them, going to sporting events, or coaching. All of these establish relationships on a different level than just in the classroom. One particular story that I vividly remember is when dad came home one day and said that he was attacked by two crows! We had to hear this one! My father believed strongly in going to recess every single day, he ran a kickball game, basketball game, football, and even on special occasions he brought his fly fishing rod and taught students about the art of casting. Many times, he would even tell his bosses that he was not available for meetings during the middle of the day because he was needed in his building.  Recess Supervision EVERY DAY! AWARD WINNING PRINCIPALS always put their students first. He was more than just a principal to his students, a lot of them didn’t have male role models and he always willingly stepped into that role.  Principal Dowdy in the early 1980's! One day, he was going outside at the start of recess like he did everyday and saw a group of students that were gathering near a tree on the playground. He said that the kids seemed a little scared and then he saw that two birds were circling the students. As he approached the area he saw that it was two crows that were paying very close attention to the students. He was trying to figure out what was happening and realized that another crow was hurt and on the ground, so his friends were watching over and trying to protect him. He decided that he needed to protect the students and the crow by removing the injured crow from the area and to safety while having the students play in another area of the playground. He had a feeling that the crows were not going to be very receptive to him moving their friend, so he went back inside in search of protective gear! He grabbed his baseball cap he always wore, a thick winter coat, and borrowed some heavy duty gloves from the custodian. Armed with makeshift safety gear, he then went back outside and carefully moved the crow to an isolated location so that he could heal and fly again. All while he was doing this, the two crow friends were “dive bombing” him. The students were grateful to go back to the area without being watched by the two crows. But it was a different story for my dad, he was attacked every single recess for the next two weeks...crows have an amazing memory. A reality my dad learned the hard way!  When you craft an Award Winning Culture filled with SELFLESSNESS, you establish an environment where your students are your first priority! By relating to students in their natural environments, educators model character, service, and sacrifice toward their students while overcoming adversity. Even if we suffer the occasional attack by some angry feathered friends...for nearly TWO WEEKS...it is absolutely WORTH IT! Our kids deserve it! #CatchingCharacter ABout the authorJennifer Appel is a teacher at Enterprise Middle School. She has been teaching for 20 years. Her passion for education comes from growing up in at education driven family (4th generation) and wanting to help and serve others. She is now driven to create an environment where all students are able to learn and become passionate about serving others. Jennifer can be contacted through email at awardwinningculture@gmail.com. You can follow her on twitter at @jennifermappel. Follow AWC @awculture on instagram @awardwinningculture. Follow Wildcat Nation on instagram @emsleadership. #WildcatNation #AwardWinningCulture
Paul Dowdy is a retired elementary school teacher and principal. Paul was in education for more than 40 years. Paul created cultures of excellence at every school he taught at or lead. Paul was also an adjunct professor at 3 different universities in the state of Washington and a regional director for Heritage University. Paul has shared his stories all around the state of Washington in the form of presentations. He's passionate about children and that reflected in all of his work as a reading specialist and his study of the brain and how that drives instruction. Paul is not on social media...but can be reached near any body of water that's conducive to shadow casting! #FlyFishing Written by: Jennifer Appel Based on the stories told by: Paul Dowdy Leadership is a choice, not a position. -Stephen Covey I was born into a family of SERVANT LEADERS. My great-grandfather was a teacher/principal/superintendent...my paternal grandfather was a minister...my maternal grandfather was an auto mechanic...my paternal grandmother owned the Wedding Haus in Leavenworth and was one of the first to perform same sex marriages for couples...my maternal grandmother was a cook in the schools...my father (Paul Dowdy) was an elementary teacher/principal and my mom was a paraprofessional. And of course my brother and I were both in school; thus, our life has pretty much always revolved around serving others and education.  Telegram offering my Great Grandfather his first principalship in 1927! My parents were adamant when we were growing up that we must eat dinner together EVERY night to maximize family time. This was easy, as it was before cell phones and we lived in a tiny town with no cable TV. We were able to sit at our little 4 person table as a family, just about every night and discuss our day. As children of the 60’s, my parents strongly believed in having open discussions with us about life. So we had lots of fun family conversations about what was happening at our schools. My brother and I were lucky enough to have my father as our own principal through elementary school so the educational learnings happened 24-7. My parents would share these enriching stories over Mac and cheese, flankstank or roast beast. We would sometimes laugh, discuss, or just take in what was happening. My parents instilled in us the love for education and that every story was filled with a message to teach us. After all, everything happens for a reason!  My Dad and I in 1981, I am 4 years old and my dad has been in education for 7 years. I wanted to be a teacher ever since I can remember, and I think the reason can be directly connected back to my parents educational stories. They spoke about their life's passion with such pleasure and admiration for how they were impacting the world. Not surprisingly, my brother and I both grew up to become educators. I am a teacher and my brother is a principal. Additionally, we also decided to marry educators, Hans my husband is a school counselor and my sister-in-law is a middle school science teacher.  The Whole Family, my brother and his wife with their two children, my mom and dad, and Hans and I with our two girls! Following in his grandfather footsteps, dad ventured into his grandpa's two loves: education and fly-fishing (occasionally interweaving the two in a master class of learning). He graduated from college as a reading specialist and started out teaching 5th grade. In 1977, he became the youngest head principal in the state of Washington at the age of 27.  My dad in his first year of teaching 1974! Love the 70's mustache! While working as a principal he also had a second job to support two children and worked as an adjunct professor at Heritage University, Eastern Washington University and Central Washington University. [Fun Fact: Fast forward a bunch of years--my dad and I actually co-taught numerous education courses at Heritage for about 10 years. I really loved being able to share that experience with my dad and we were able to give our students two unique perspectives (elementary principal and middle school teacher)]. After retirement from public education he went on to be the Regional Director for Heritage University and continued to teach future educators! Beyond being an amazing father, he was an AWARD WINNING PRINCIPAL. His recognitions included: Washington State Distinguished Principal of the Year, Phi Delta Kappa Educator of the Year, Golden Acorn Award (twice), Washington School Counselor Association Award winner, and the Masonic Lodge’s Outstanding Educator Award. But, I just knew him as DAD and he was the principal that everyone in our community loved!  During the summer, we are going to feature an 8 part series called “CATCHING CHARACTER”. In the series, I'll share some funny, sad, and inspirational stories from my award winning principal father and how that helped ignite a burning desire in me to create an AWARD WINNING CULTURE within my own sphere of influence.  ABOUT THE AUTHORSJennifer Appel is a teacher at Enterprise Middle School. She has been teaching for 20 years. Her passion for education comes from growing up in at education driven family (4th generation) and wanting to help and serve others. She is now driven to create an environment where all students are able to learn and become passionate about serving others. Jennifer can be contacted through email at awardwinningculture@gmail.com. You can follow her on twitter at @jennifermappel. Follow AWC @awculture on instagram @awardwinningculture. Follow Wildcat Nation on instagram @emsleadership. #WildcatNation #AwardWinningCulture Paul Dowdy is a retired elementary school teacher and principal. Paul was in education for more than 40 years. Paul created cultures of excellence at every school he taught at or lead. Paul was also an adjunct professor at 3 different universities in the state of Washington and a regional director for Heritage University. Paul has shared his stories all around the state of Washington in the form of presentations. He's passionate about children and that reflected in all of his work as a reading specialist and his study of the brain and how that drives instruction. Paul is not on social media...but can be reached near any body of water that's conducive to shadow casting! #FlyFishing
Written By: Hans Appel
If we want to create the leaders of tomorrow, there is no better time to develop our students as leaders than TODAY.
Last May, I announced to the educational world that we were launching a student-led leadership podcast without any expertise, equipment, or know-how. Indeed, this was a HUGE professional risk and prior to launching I certainly had my fair share of haters and naysayers telling us all the reasons why it wouldn’t work. However, 35 episodes recorded, overcoming countless failures and hurdles, and nearly a year later, our students have proven that empowering student voice is a sure fire winner in the land of school culture and climate.
From the very beginning students embraced a growth mindset for risk-taking and a desire to create exceptional content for an authentic audience. Award Winning Culture has become a recognized beacon of hope for what passion-project based learning can look like in #FutureDriven schools. The benefits to both our podcasters AND the Wildcat Nation community are overwhelming! However, it’s become clear that our students influence has had a ripple effect across K-12 education around the world. Students, educators, and parents download our inspiring conversations. Our students presented, wrote, and shared their experiences with people all over the world. Some of the brightest leadership minds around have cited their podcast in their own professional work. Furthermore, they’ve been approached by multiple sponsors before finally agreeing to terms with a company THEY truly believe in. It’s been quite a ride…
This past weekend, we had our first annual AWC Podcast Retreat. As we celebrated student content through reflection, team-building, and planning, this year’s podcasters taught new podcasters the art of interviewing, listening, and researching their guests. [A special shoutout to Morgane Michael from KindSight 101 for the incredible feedback, interviewing tips, and encouragement]. Such a joy to see these amazing students influencing through their own personal successes and failures. A highlight for me was watching a veteran 7th grade podcaster teaching a new 6th grader perfect mic posture to maximize voice quality. The level of attention to detail was so INTENTIONAL!
One of our BIG surprises was a video we created from listeners, supporters, and fans all around the world. Such a POWERFUL message to show our students the far reach of their words and actions. Knowing that they’ve inspired students to try podcasting, had authors use their work in writing projects, and impacted educators views on leadership and learning----LIFE CHANGING!!
THANK-YOU to EVERYONE who shared video content and/or written reviews with us!!
Next year, we have dozens of memorable guests already lined up to be on the podcast including several big surprises. While we’ll continue to produce regular podcasts, our students are pushing for a bigger influence...a bigger voice...a BIGGER CHALLENGE! They’ve felt the impact their words and their work have had and now they want to E X P A N D ! 
Coming this fall, we’ll be launching AWC-tv.
In a similar vein as our podcast, AWC-tv is a student-led exploration focusing on Character, Excellence, and Community within the video lens of a middle school student. They’ll be funny, informative, and inspiring segments and dialogue geared toward raising the bar on meaningful streaming, from the heart. Our students have laid down the gauntlet for the creation of this new student-led medium and Wildcat Nation educators are committed to "Take the L.E.A.P: Ignite a Culture of Innovation" [Shout-out to Elisabeth Bostwick!!] Just like the podcast, there will undoubtedly be a steep learning curve and countless failures but if I’ve learned anything the past 15 months, kids these days are capable of accomplishing anything!
I officially invite you to tune-in to our next experiential Wildcat Nation journey by following #AWCtv
Coming Fall 2019...
**What brave new educational journey will you try this fall? **What barriers are you willing to breakdown to provide a life-changing platform for your students? **What role does student voice play in the vision, culture, and planning of YOUR school? My friend, Darren Ellwein, principal of South Middle School, speaker, blogger and co-author of The Revolution: It’s Time to Empower Change in Our Schools says:
“If you want to start a revolution, it starts by asking kids what THEY need.”
Who’s with us??
About the AuthorHans Appel has worked as a counselor in the Richland School District for the past 18 years and at Enterprise Middle School since it opened. He’s passionate about school culture, servant leadership, and kindness. In 2018, EMS was awarded the ASCD Whole Child Award for the State of Washington and the Global “Class Act Award” for creating a culture of excellence through kindness, service, and empathy. Recently, Hans launched his own blog about School Culture and this fall rolled out a student-led leadership podcast called Award Winning Culture: Hosted by Wildcat Nation, which can be subscribed, listened or reviewed on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, and Libsyn. He can be contacted at hansappel094@gmail.com. Follow Hans on twitter @HansNAppel. Follow AWC on twitter at @awculture or Instagram @awardwinningculture. Wildcat Nation on Instagram @emscounseling #WildcatNation #AwardWinningCulture |
About AWCAward Winning Culture was created by Hans and Jennifer Appel with the sole purpose of creating an educational mindset of Positive INTENTIONALITY and ACTION; with a daily mantra to make our sphere of influence stronger through Character, Excellence, and Community. Part of AWC's mission is to highlight outstanding educators, companies, and resources that support an Award Winning Culture. Both Jennifer and Hans work at Enterprise Middle School aka Wildcat Nation. Wildcat Nation received the 2018 ASCD Whole Child Award in Washington, for its award winning culture and the 2018 Global "Class Act Award" for Kindness. Archives
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