By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

NORTH SHELBY—Oak Mountain Elementary School students know you’re never too young to be a leader. On March 4, students showed off what they had learned during the school’s first year as a Leader in Me school during Leadership Day.

The Leader in Me draws from Steven Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” to foster leadership skills in students. Leader in Me schools promote Covey’s seven habits: “Be proactive,” “begin with the end in mind,” “put first things first,” “think win-win,” “seek first to understand,” “synergize” and “sharpen the saw.”

During OMES Leadership Day, the school’s 715 kindergarten through third grade students presented what the seven leadership habits meant to them to parents, friends and community leaders.

“My favorite part about the seven habits is just doing them to help people around the school,” third grader Jameson Sewell said, adding he wants to set an example for younger students. “The bigger kids set a reflection for the younger kids…I just want to help people.”

Third grader Alana Jackson said her favorite habit to use in the classroom is synergize.

“Synergizing means to work together,” Jackson said. “If you work together, it’s better.”

While the seven habits are woven into daily learning and activities at OMES, students also have used the habits in their lives, hobbies and sports outside of school.

“(My favorite is) synergize, because I play sports,” third grader and soccer, basketball and softball player Mia Wilson said. “If we only had one person (on the team), that wouldn’t work out!”

Third grader Luke Marvin said the seven habits help him live a happy and healthy life.

“I think of it as eating good foods, keeping myself healthy and working together,” Marvin said.

OMES Principal Debbie Horton said she is impressed by the impact Leader in Me has had on the students, even in just one year.

“It has been amazing. To see the children living these habits has been so rewarding,” Horton said. “We have seen them latch on to them and really own their learning.”