Don Sherrill students grow roots of success with inspirational activities

May 23, 2025

Hartley Elementary School teacher Mikayla Matthes shared a wide smile with A’Royal as they talked about how he has bloomed academically and socially this year.
 
Dozens of A’Royal’s classmates at Donald D. Sherrill Education Center discussed how they were growing similar roots of success at the inaugural DDSEC School Pride Day. Staff members from 32 elementary schools came to the DDSEC campus to talk with students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The activity’s goal was to help them build stronger connections with their home attendance schools before they return.
 
A'Royal said he was happy talking with Matthes during the morning. He worked with her to complete five petals on a confidence-boosting flower. He listed his dreams for the future, something new he has tried, his strengths for success, how he received help from someone and how he helped someone else.
 
“I enjoyed that I got to color the flower and talk to my home attendance school,” A’Royal said.

 
DDSEC Principal Cindy Vodicka said A’Royal was writing pages of a success story through his hard work during the school year. He is taking classes at Hartley on a partial basis and is on his way to making a full return. Fourteen other students are back at their home schools after graduating from DDSEC this year.
 
Vodicka said she felt School Pride Day would help increase that number for the 2025-26 academic year. She and other members of the DDSEC School Improvement Team wanted to help students build trust with their home schools by giving them a chance to talk, laugh and work together.
 
“I think it went great,” Vodicka said. “I’m so excited about the wonderful turnout we had and our partnership with our home attendance schools, because that’s what helps kids go back to their school. It helps them graduate when they have great relationships.”
 
DDSEC teacher Holli Beck also had an optimistic response to the day’s events. She worked with students and teachers from Everett and Morley in one of the DDSEC classrooms.

 
Beck encouraged several children as they wrote on their flowers and completed phrases on a green leaf. Each green leaf contained the phrase, “Look at How I’ve Grown: I am Proud of Myself Because,” and students could write self-affirming words and sentences on them. Each inspirational leaf was then taped to branches of a tree in the school cafeteria.
 
“I think anytime you can do something to help kids stay connected with their home school, it’s a really good thing,” Beck said. “This was a really good day today. I’m happy with how the students did with all of their activities.”
 
DDSEC staff members help students focus on their strengths and learn prosocial skills throughout the year. The school uses a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) strategy to teach lessons about coping skills, positive self-esteem and consistent expectations. The therapeutic environment encourages students to thrive academically, behaviorally and socially.

 
Fredstrom Elementary School Assistant Principal Kathy Moldenhauer visited with Lana and Ben before DDSEC staff members Aneisha Brown and Abbey Patera led the flower activity. Lana and Ben are both planning to return to Fredstrom and enjoy successful careers. Ben said he wanted to become “a weather guy” when he grew up, and Lana said she wanted to become a veterinarian.
 
Lana said her favorite part of the morning was filling out her flower. She used multiple markers to create bright words on each petal.
 
“Coloring it and writing on it, because I really like writing,” Lana said. “I like math too because it’s fun.”
 
Beck and Vodicka both said they enjoyed watching students express themselves during the writing activity. They said it was promising to see the positive words that emerged on each petal.
 
“It’s amazing when you see them put their feelings down in their own words,” Beck said. “They were really excited to write on their flowers, because I think it showed them that their goals are possible. They’re believing they can do this.”

 
“One student said, ‘My goal is to get back to Elliott partial days,’” Vodicka said. “That’s our goal for them too, so when they start to verbalize it and say, ‘This is my goal,’ that’s when it happens, so it’s really exciting to see that.”
 
Vodicka said School Pride Day will encourage many students to blossom in their current and future educational fields at Lincoln Public Schools.
 
“This was one way that we could have home attendance school staff come and work with students and give them some directions and do activities with them to help students have that relationship,” Vodicka said. “When they do go back, they already have something established. They love it when people come and visit, so it was a lot of fun to have this happen today.”
 
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