Power Greeting at a New School

Power greeting is a part of the City Year culture that is seen often in the schools we serve. This is our second year serving at Earl Warren, so the students are still new to power greetings. Last year we were only able to do it in the last month of school due to being virtual. However, we began power greeting this year from the very first day of school and the students had such a positive reaction to it. We have some students racing up the stairs as we cheer them on when they enter campus while others joining us in clapping along to the power greeting.

I could see all the great feelings and positive vibes power greetings brought to students, but it wasn’t until a few days ago that I realized how much it means to the students. One morning as we were power greeting, I saw a student smiling as he got out of his car and put on his mask. I acknowledge how I noticed that he was excited to be at school that day. His parent then proceeded to say that the student is always excited and happy to come to school because he always looks forward to the mornings when we power greet him into campus. That allowed me to truly see the impact we have on the students and how far even a simple good morning can go.