Political parties can be compared to middle schools cliques… everyone in one party constantly picks at everyone in the other, and vice versa, as each tries to win an election. The only problem is that school is more like an endless election. The Circle of Power and Respect, or CPR, and C.A.R.E.S—Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self-control—play a large part in keeping our school a safe place.

CPR is a time of day everyone looks forward to, because during the meetings we have fun while learning more about ourselves and others. CPR is the glue of our school’s project of community building; it’s where we feel safe and confident with ourselves and others. We share what we think and feel without being judged.

The Circle of Power and Respect builds social skills during the Greeting, trust and understanding during the Share, teamwork and cooperation during the Activity, and creativity and knowledge through use of the Daily News.

All of these aspects help to make an “almost perfect” community where everyone can be comfortable and safe while expressing themselves. Learning becomes enjoyable once you feel comfortable about where you learn and with whom you are learning.

In addition, Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy and Self-control, also known as C.A.R.E.S, makes learning enjoyable, because working on developing these five important social skills makes students feel comfortable about our school and our peers.

During CPR we use cooperation to communicate with each other and to make CPR successful. In middle school, kids are known to gossip and chat up a storm at any given moment. It’s difficult for some teenagers to refrain from doing so. Cooperation from everyone is important to control the amount of chatter in our classes. When the teacher raises her hand to give the signal for quiet, students normally raise theirs and stop talking immediately, and occasionally will give their talking neighbor a tap on the shoulder as an additional reminder. When everyone raises his/her hand, the classroom is cooperating as a group.

Assertion is also a key part to a middle school student’s success. Assertion takes place when we participate and express our feelings to each other in CPR. When one person steps out of her comfort zone, it makes everyone else take healthy risks too, because they are reminded of how comfortable, safe, and trustworthy the environment is.

Responsibility is felt whenever we students lead CPR. Responsibility is needed, because the student playing the role of the teacher has large shoes to fill: all eyes are on him or her. Leaders of CPR need to take the role seriously and be responsible enough to plan ahead.

During CPR, a tremendous amount of empathy is shown. We rarely have a student turn down an opportunity to share because she doesn’t feel comfortable. We welcome everyone’s thoughts and shower them with empathy. We comfort them when they get upset or when it is a sensitive issue, and let them know that we are there for them if they need someone to talk to, and we assure them that what they share will not leave the room.

A final social skill that helps CPR run smoothly is self-control. Self-control is when you control what actions and words you say or do. Some comments and actions that students offer aren’t always appropriate, and self-control helps them think over their decisions before they act or speak. Overall, C.A.R.E.S is an important factor that makes CPR function smoothly.

Joined together, CPR and C.A.R.E.S ensure that schools are comfortable, trustworthy, safe places for students to learn.

Marisa Duplisea and Alyssa Dalton are students at JFK Middle School, Hudson MA

This article first appeared in Origins' Special Student Issue, Spring 2008