Searcy, AR (LP) — Before the school year officially kicked off, teachers were given a pep talk about “pulling our own happy wagon” by Searcy Public Schools superintendant, Diane Barrett. This inspired Kelli McNeill, a teacher at SHS, to carry on this idea throughout the year. She started with a “Happy Wagon” shirt that was offered to all teachers who were interested.
On the first day of school, teachers were surprised to find a Happy Wagon sitting in the teacher’s lounge. It was filled to the brim with a plethora of goodies and snacks. It was from there the Good Vibes Tribe began. With the help of Bobbi Green and other members, the Good Vibes Tribe hopes to help people to “believe that together we can achieve a positive working environment, where everyone’s work is valued and appreciated,” says Green.
However, despite the readiness of McNeill and others, some teachers had to take some time for the idea to grow on them. McNeill stated, “when we first sent the email about joining the Good Vibes Tribe, there wasn’t that much interest, but when we started actually doing things, they’re like ‘I wanna be involved in that, I wanna be involved in that.’ So our numbers grew and we decorated the bathrooms’ cause they were like cinderblocks and plain walls and decorated those and, like, the whole place just lit up.”
Even though, this started almost on a whim, it looks as though it will have a good future. Green commented that, “I think the future for the tribe can go in many different directions. My hopes are that our efforts will create a movement in which mindsets are changed and positivity (good vibes) will spread like wildfire. When every teacher can come to work knowing they are appreciated every single day, I would say our goals had been met.” And this movement towards spreading good vibes isn’t limited to teachers. McNeill states, “when I got the award, I told them about the award and I was like it’d be great if y’all could do something like this and some of the students were like ‘yeah, it would be,’ you know, but then doing it is the definitely the difficult part of it. Yeah, it’s a great idea but then putting forth the effort fr pulling it off is hard.”
Also, McNeill recommends the book that inspired her to do this, Everybody, Always by Bob Goff; and anyone interested in joining the Good Vibes Tribe or taking the initiative to start the student tribe, be sure to see McNeill in Room 107.
