LEADER: Sixth grader Brandon Turner speaks to visitors at Redwood Elementary’s first Leadership Day.

Redwood Elementary School celebrated its first Leadership Day Tuesday, and Principal Leandrew Drake, Jr. said everyone at the school has come a long way since starting the Leader in Me program.

Drake said they officially started their Leader in Me journey in January and Leadership Day was the culmination of four months of hard work, focus and planning.

“It gave central office, board members, business leaders and other community leaders a chance to come into Redwood and see the transformation that we’ve been going through.”

Drake said this is just the beginning and they are fired up to continue going in the right direction.

“We’re going to continue to work hard,” he said. “We have great students, great teachers and a great community.”

Drake said it’s all about getting better and taking it up a notch.

“If you had been here this time last year and you were to leap forward to this year, it would just be mind-blowing, the type of transformation we’ve had,” he said. “It’s been amazing.”

Drake said all principals want to see improvement and the Leader in Me program is a tried and true method of accomplishing that.

“The most important part is it’s not the adults who are doing it, it’s the students,” he said. “It’s student-centered and really gauged toward them. That’s when you really see the change is when you give the students the keys to the car.”

Second grader Victor Baker served as a greeter for Leadership Day.

“I held the doors for the visitors and parents,” he said.

Baker said Leadership Day was a great way for people to come in and learn about Redwood.

“(Leader in Me) has taught me to do good stuff and follow the seven habits,” he said.

Sixth grader Peyton McBroom said he told visitors how they’ve been learning about the seven habits in the classroom.

“We’ve done acronyms with our names to show the seven habits, like mine: Perseverance, Exemplify, You can lift weights, Track your goals, Only do good things and Never do wrong,” he said. “We’ve also done 100 ways to show the seven habits.”

Outside of the classroom McBroom showed a chart with goals the students have set for themselves.

“Sometimes we reach our goals and sometimes we don’t, but we still encourage everyone to do their best,” he said.