Photo by Jenny Kirk A pair of sixth-grade boys were among the students in grades 3-8 who recently took fun personality tests that were part of a new CHARGE Time program implemented at Holy Redeemer School in Marshall.

MARSHALL — CHARGE Time is one of the newest additions at Holy Redeemer School and it appears to already be having a positive impact.

CHARGE Time is a faith-based life skills program for students in grades 3-8. Resource teacher Mary Surprenant said its purpose is aimed at proactively providing students and teachers the necessary tools to help nurture and grow a positive school climate of compassion, communication and cooperation.

“There’s no question that kids’ needs are greater,” Surprenant said. “Their social needs have increased. And there’s not enough time in the day for a classroom teacher to deal with it all.”

The timing and everything else seemed to fall perfectly into place as two third-grade sections had merged into one at the beginning of the school year. Previously, Surprenant and Kari Buysse split third-grade duties in the classroom, with each working on a part-time basis.

“I wanted to stay part time and Kari wanted to just do subbing,” Surprenant said. “I knew I had a space because there was only one third grade, so now I’m the CHARGE teacher, third-grade religion teacher and I work with a couple of kids on a regular basis and in small groups, too.”

Surprenant also helps out on the playground, where she said she often sees different types of personalities and behaviors. The CHARGE Time program makes it possible for her to schedule and conduct small-group sessions when needed in addition to the primary whole group sessions at each grade level. She’s optimistic that the messages — and improved behavior — carry over into the classrooms and beyond.

“There are one or two boys in every grade right now that I’m going to bring together for a leadership session,” she said. “But really, it’s about their negative leadership. I’m going to call them out on it. I see it on the playground. They have leadership qualities, but they’re using it in a negative way.”

A Pride in the Tiger Foundation grant allowed the program to come to fruition. Surprenant said she’s also appreciative of the internal support, especially from HRS Principal Josh Langseth and the Rev. Mark Steffl, in addition to the teachers, parents and students.

CHARGE Time takes place for 30 minutes on a bi-weekly basis along with additional time potentially for teachable moments that pop up.

“I want to put out little fires before they turn into big smoke,” Surprenant said. “There are some issues going on right now with the girls in third grade. So we’re going to have a CHARGE session for the girls focused more on feelings and drama. Then I’m going to have a CHARGE session with the boys about aggression, not being a sore loser and learning how to win with humbleness.”

Legacy was at the heart of Session 1.

“HRS is so rich in its history and all of these students are an important part of this legacy,” Surprenant said. “But there were many, many that came before us and hopefully, there will be many that come after us. It’s something very special.”

Surprenant showed a slide show that highlighted some of the history. St. Joseph’s Academy opened its doors in September 1900 to 40 students in grades 5-8. By 1911, the Academy was housed in a new building with grades 1-12. The current building opened in 1950 and its name was changed to Holy Redeemer School.

“I think it’s amazing how long our school has been around and the changes that it underwent, how it was a high school, but now it’s a K-8,” seventh-grader Dawson Chappuis said. “I really think that’s cool.”

Chappuis was among a six-member forum group that recently shared their thoughts about CHARGE Time as a representative of their grade level. Eighth-grade student Brooke Andries said she also liked learning about the school’s legacy.

“I think it just helps us understand who all came before us and how important the school is,” Andries said. “The alumni always talk about how much fun they had coming here and that we can talk like that when we get older.”

Surprenant said students probably don’t appreciate the many neat traditions when they’re kindergartners, but that they likely will by the time they’re eighth-graders.

“What I love about this school and the Catholic church is that we are based on both Scripture and tradition,” she said. “We’re always trying to think about others and about service — those are some of the things that make us stand out.”

Sixth-grader Alana Condezo said she appreciated that as well.

“I think it’s a good experience for us to learn about the past in our school, to learn who have been through our school because we need to know what our school stands for and what the differences are between our school and other schools around us,” Condezo said.

The second session was centered on the school’s name and what “Holy” means. Fifth grader Levi Maeyaert remembers the visual presentation Surprenant gave.

“You tried to put God on top of it and it wouldn’t fit,” Maeyaert said. “But when you put the golf balls on the bottom, it does fit. It’s like when you put God first, then you can do all the other stuff.”

Condezo said she liked learning about how to put God first, followed by other activities.

“I need to know and understand that it needs to be about God and not sports all the time,” she said. “I’m in a lot of sports where you can have both of them and where you can pray, too, like FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) in the summer. You can praise God and have a sport with it.”

Surprenant then delved into the word “Redeemer” for the third session.

“It’s like a savior or helper,” fourth grader Ian Beyer said.

Chappuis added that it meant “safe from sin.”

Surprenant said she had the students play a game.

“I used tickets because it led to this idea of redeeming — how you go to an arcade and you get tickets and that you can redeem them for something,” she said. “In the secular world, we also redeem gift cards and that kind of thing.”

Surprenant also found a video on YouTube that gave a great analogy.

“At conferences, I had a student tell me that this was the thing that clicked for her,” she said.

In the video, a boy about 10 years old was coming up an alley, swinging a bird cage with several small birds inside. A man came up to him and asked him what he was going to do with them. After learning he was going to play with them, the man then asked what he planned to do when he got tired to that. The boy said he would just feed them to his cats.

The man asked how much the boy wanted for the birds and didn’t hesitate to offer up the $10, even after the boy informed him that they were ugly old field birds that didn’t even sing. The man took the shabby birds and in a sheltered crevice between a couple of buildings, he opened up the door of the cage and encouraged the little birds to fly away.

The narrator pointed out that the story is similar to that of Jesus, when he asked Satan how much he wanted for them — only it was people, not birds. Satan thought Jesus couldn’t be serious, telling him that they’d hate him, spit on him and hit him. But Jesus was persistent and Satan finally said he demanded all his blood and tears.

“That’s the price,” the narrator said. “And Jesus took the cage, paid the price and opened the door. That’s what it is to be redeemed.”

Session 4 was an upbeat one where the students learned about people having different types of personalities, behaviors and perceptions. Surprenant likened it to mixed nuts.

“There are different kinds of nuts and they’re all separate and unique, but when mixed together, like we are in life — whether it’s here in a school or at your work — you have to learn how to appreciate and maybe develop a taste for other people and their nutty qualities,” she said.

In the session with sixth-graders, most of the students thought they aligned more with the competitive “A” personality than with the more nonchalant “B” personality type. Next, the students got out a piece of paper for the second unofficial test, which involved shapes.

“You gave us choices of a squiggle, circle, triangle and rectangle,” Chappuis said. “We were told to write them all down and to write one of them twice.”

Andries clarified that the students were supposed to use all the shapes and make a picture with it.

“Whatever one you picked twice kind of defines your personality,” she said.

Of the four symbols, the triangle most closely represents leadership.

“You are often charismatic and you like to be the boss,” Surprenant said. “You might be seen as bossy.”

The square represented organizers.

“Your mantra would be ‘Get it right even if it takes all night,” Surprenant said. “Bill Gates is a famous square.”

The circle is representative of people whose focus is on keeping the peace. They are the glue that holds a family together. They are caring as well as good listeners and communicators. Some pitfalls are moodiness, indecisiveness and being a little manipulative. Mother Teresa is a famous circle.

Squiggles tend to be more unique and creative. They’re out-of-the-box thinkers who consider all possibilities. Disorganization and being a little impractical can be weaknesses. Walt Disney and Albert Einstein are famous squiggles.

“It’s just about educating them about having empathy, understanding and seeing things from other people’s eyes,” Surprenant said.

The final personality test consisted of four colors — representing planners, feelers, thinkers and doers — and the students had to select the one they most closely aligned with.

Gratitude, conflict resolution and the power of humor were the focus of the next three whole-group sessions. Upcoming topics include the bully inside each of us, using your social filter, active listening skills and perseverance.

“So many people think a bully is this big, brawny kid, but can be little girls who aren’t very nice,” Surprenant said. “Bullying can be rolling your eyes, not talking to somebody and all of that.”

Third-grade student Elsie Deutz acknowledged the importance of being a good friend.

“I try not to leave anybody out,” Deutz said.

Some people might not realize how their behavior is perceived by others, so raising awareness is key.

“When we mess up, we can always ask for forgiveness and try to do better,” she said. “I realize in this room of up to almost 40 kids, I maybe won’t reach everybody. But like anything, it’s about repetition. We’re working on self-control things right now and we’re making some progress. I feel good about that.”