ADA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — By the time certain students at Forest Hills Eastern High School graduate, they will already have real-life experience in being a leader, including the hard moments that build grit and grace.

“We have some athletes, we have some students in theatre, and we have students in broadcasting because that helps us keep a pulse on things,” Nicole Deckrow, the career counselor for the high school, explained how they choose their ‘Hawk Teams’ leaders.

Every student in the building belongs to a Hawk Team, led by a senior, with six-eight multi-grade students on each team. Seven seniors are in charge of making the plans for their team-building days as a way to promote community, connection and culture.

“The goal is that every student has someone to check in with and that senior is saying hi to those students in the hallway. You’re just building relationships you wouldn’t normally create,” said Deckrow.

Every week, the Hawk Teams meet for one hour, either to learn about new careers or join a group activity, like “Hawksgiving,” for example, where they celebrate Thanksgiving and watch Charlie Brown.

Ava Frechette is one of the Hawk Team leaders this year and is part of the broadcasting class.

“I make a lot of videos for Hawk Teams, explaining how to play certain games, directional videos, videos introducing ourselves is liaisons,” she said.

Besides promoting connection, the initiative is also a way for students like Ava to learn what it takes to lead.

“I was so excited when I was asked because I think it’s important for people to step up and really take leadership roles like this, and I think that it helps me encourage others to do that, even if it’s in a smaller form,” she said.

Younger students don’t always feel comfortable interacting with their older peers, and having a program like this in place creates an environment where they can engage in a natural way. That’s something Nash Weaver, another Hawk Team leader, notices about the effect of this initiative.

“If you’re a shy person, you can understand how the new, incoming freshman might not want to put themselves out there… (When I was a freshman) I can remember the seniors were like, ‘you want to help with his? Would you like to go get this?’ and I thought, wow, they actually care about my opinion and what I do… and that’s where it started, like, that’s what I want to do when I’m a senior,” he said.

It’s not all smooth sailing when it comes to planning the events and getting everyone on the team on board, but that’s part of the lesson.

Deckrow said, “Leading your peers can be hard, and so they’re learning a skill most of us don’t learn until our first jobs, and that is really exciting to watch.”

There are three main hallways at Eastern, and so Deckrow groups all the teams in each hallway together as an even bigger team, assigning points to the hallway that wins a challenge and offering rewards. One way she encourages connections is through evidence of effort.

“We award points when a Hawk leader takes pictures with a hawling at a school event outside of school. So, if you go to Culvers with your hawklings and take pictures, you get points. If you’re at a football game with your hawklings and you take pictures, you get points,” she explained.

Regardless of which hallway ends up winning the most points, she believes the true reward goes to every student who feels included, valued and loved along the way.