Decatur students work to make changes in school culture

Photo by Mike Eckels Ithzel Martinez (left), Ashley Herrera, Dora Hernandez and Joseph Cheng gather at Bulldog Stadium for the “Revolution 2021” day assembly at Decatur Middle School April 12. A conversation between these four friends sparked a revolution to change the way people view students in a small-town school system.
Photo by Mike Eckels Ithzel Martinez (left), Ashley Herrera, Dora Hernandez and Joseph Cheng gather at Bulldog Stadium for the “Revolution 2021” day assembly at Decatur Middle School April 12. A conversation between these four friends sparked a revolution to change the way people view students in a small-town school system.

— "How can we change the way people look at ourselves and our school?"

This was the question that four eighth grade students at Decatur Middle School asked during a casual conversation one day.

Ithzel Martinez, Joseph Chang, Dora Hernandez and Ashley Herrera were sitting in Joli Sotallora's classroom at Decatur Middle School working on an English assignment when the subject of why they are treated differently because they attend a smaller school cropped up. Chang, who had moved away from Decatur for a short time, had experienced the different cultures of a larger school district and that of Decatur.

"I moved to Rogers for a while," said Chang. "When I came back, everybody started asking me why I was so different."

"Why are you so much smarter and learned more things than we did?" asked Herrera.

After a few minutes, Sotallora decided to enter into the discussion and try to answer some of the student questions.

"Why do you think that is?" said Sotallora. "Why do you think that way about yourselves?"

After about 15 minutes, Sotallora decided that she needed to bring this discussion to the rest of her class. She sat them in a circle and the discussion took off by itself. In an instant, what started as talk between four friends turned into a full-blown debate between both eighth grade classes.

"We have the opportunity as a small school to really be a family, to treat each other better and to help one another out more than anybody else in northwest Arkansas," Sotallora said.

For the rest of the afternoon, the 45 eighth grade students sat in a circle outside the building and began to work on how they can be better persons and treat others with respect and caring. Soon the students went around the circle, complimenting each other and apologizing for the wrongs they did to each other. And the group realized that this circle should not end there. Thus, the "Revolution 2021" project was born.

For the next week, the students split up into groups and began the planning and execution of their revolution. They put together two 10-minute videos showing the cultures of their school and how to effect change in the way students interact with each other, their teachers and others around them.

Because Decatur is a smaller school with a student population of 595, the students have seen firsthand how others from larger school districts look down on them.

Bronwyn Berry, an eighth grader, missed that gathering, but she embraced the "Revolution 2021" concept -- named for the year the eighth graders will graduate -- as soon as she heard about it.

"This is something I'm passionate about," said Bronwyn, a lifelong Decatur resident. "We're lucky because we have the potential to be a great community. We're not taking advantage of that."

Bronwyn said they want to see the culture change spread to the high school and elementary school.

"We can't just let this die here. They need to remember everyone here has so much potential," she said.

Alexis Patterson, another eighth grader, said there's been a tendency for Decatur students to feel bad about themselves, especially when it comes to athletics.

"We'd go to a basketball game or a football game and (opponents) would be like, 'Oh, those are just the kids from Decatur. We can win.' They had no confidence in us. So it made us not have any confidence in us," Alexis said.

Victor Gonzalez, who plays football and runs track for Decatur, said it feels great when school spirit is high. Even when the teams struggle, he sees the positives of playing for a small school.

"Since there aren't as many people, someone who's not so good at sports can come and play at least a few minutes," Gonzalez said.

Just after 12:30 p.m. on April 21, all of their efforts came together and "Revolution 2021" was unveiled during an assembly of all 154 students of Decatur Middle School.

After the video, the classes were split up into four different stations, one inside the gym, two on the football field and a fourth on the practice field behind the stadium. The station inside the gym was designed to show the students how to work together to achieve a goal, much like the eighth graders did.

Another station was designed to show students how to trust one another. Two students, one blindfolded, the other not, worked through a maze laid out on the football field. The sighted student was charged with leading the blindfolded one through the maze, keeping him or her safe along the way.

Jeff Gravette, Decatur School District superintendent, observed the assembly from the sidelines and was impressed in the amount of work the eighth grade class put into the project.

"I appreciate the work of our students and staff on this student-led project," Gravette said. "They are working so hard on having genuine student voice where our kids make their school the best they possibly can for all kids. I love our kids; they have so much heart. I've talked with our staff about sending student leaders to training or developing a training for them to make this new initiative become a lasting part of our district."

Because of the efforts of Martinez, Chang, Hernandez and Herrera and other team members, the eighth grade class will soon form a new student council, something Decatur schools have been without for many years.

The four friends have already seen changes in the way their fellow students look at each other, their teachers and their community.

"We see people get along with others that they don't usually hang out with," said Chang.

What is next for the "Revolution 2021"? The organizers hope to expand the program to the entire Decatur School District and the community itself.

General News on 04/19/2017