As far as my relationship goes with The Leader In Me initiative, I guess it’s better late than never.

The program was brought to Vicksburg and Warren County several years ago by a team of devoted community members who wanted to make this place a better place.

They determined the best way to do this would be through enhancing the quality of  education.

By doing so, they’d be creating better schools which would attract more people to the area, and it also creates a better workforce as these children cycle through and graduate.

During my tenure as the education reporter at The Vicksburg Post, I’ve been able to see incredible transformations in the way schools are operated and faculty, staff and students have transitioned into Leader In Me schools.

First, the initiative seeks to instill the seven habits, a synthesis of universal, timeless principles of personal and interpersonal effectiveness, such as responsibility, vision, integrity, teamwork, collaboration and renewal, which are secular in nature and common to all people and cultures.

They are be proactive; begin with the end in mind; put first things first; think win-win; seek first to understand, then to be understood; synergize; and sharpen the saw.

This kind of stuff isn’t just important for children, it’s important for all of us.

I think we’d do well to incorporate these habits in our own lives, both private and professional.

Another interesting aspect of The Leader In Me is that all students are assigned jobs. They take these jobs very seriously, as they should. Some sharpen pencils, and some water plants. Some help custodians, and some pass out squirts of hand sanitizer.

I can’t help but think that if I had jobs such as these in school, I probably wouldn’t have ended up with quite so many demerits.

I’d always finish my work quickly and start getting into some sort of trouble. I wasn’t a bad kid, just curious and liked to talk, not much different from the Austin many of you know today. I guess it’s true what they say, idle hands are the devil’s workshop.

But by giving students jobs, two things are accomplished: they feel important, and they stay busy. It’s amazing what a difference that can make.

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Austin Vining is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at austin.vining@vicksburgpost.com.