Welcoming Words: McPhee students build leadership skills with compassionate tours

March 18, 2026

McPhee Elementary School students are speaking the language of compassion and care to new friends with many welcoming words.
 
McPhee Student Cadre members are helping classmates feel more comfortable by giving them tours in their home languages. Cadre leaders speak to new students in one of a dozen languages while guiding them through hallways and rooms. The conversations put them at ease on their first day of school, build an important sense of belonging and lead to successful academic outcomes for everyone.
 
McPhee fifth graders Karla and Nayely greeted sisters Maria and Teresa with open arms when they arrived on campus this winter. Karla and Nayely are fluent in both English and Spanish and are using their kind hearts in McPhee Student Cadre activities. They said it has been fun to help students feel good about joining the McPhee family.
 
“I’m happy, because the girl that I just met today, she’s really nice,” Karla said. “And so, I want to have a friend like this one.”
 
“If you just give them the tour in English and they don’t know the language really well, then they’re going to probably feel like, it feels really uncomfortable for them,” Nayely said. “There’s a lot of students that speak a lot of languages, so it’s really helpful for everybody.”
 
Maria said the tour was a great way to start her time at McPhee. The fifth grader said she noticed how Karla and Nayely offered compassionate words and a gift bag to her.
 
“I felt happy,” Maria said. “I mean, like when they came and gave me that, I felt like I already had friends.”

 
McPhee Principal Theresa Haack said the tours have made a significant difference for many people. McPhee’s mobility percentage – the number of students either entering or leaving the school in an academic year – has been at or above 25 percent each of the past three years. The McPhee Student Cadre visits have allowed new Mustangs to make smoother transitions to their unfamiliar surroundings.
 
“I think it helps kids feel safe and welcome,” Haack said. “And when we go back to the district goal of student wellbeing and having students feel like they belong in school, if you’re greeted automatically by someone who speaks your same language, you’re going to feel like you belong and that this is a place for you. They might eventually feel that if we didn’t have the tour, but we want them to have that right away.”
 
Several teachers formed the McPhee Student Cadre in the 2023-24 school year to provide more leadership opportunities for Mustangs in third through fifth grades. McPhee teachers nominate students from their classrooms to take part in cadre activities. The group meets every Monday after school to discuss leadership topics and help plan monthly student and staff recognition ceremonies.
 
The list of languages spoken at McPhee includes English, Spanish, Pashto, Kurdish, Dari, Arabic, Karen, Vietnamese, Karenni, Kurmanji, French, Japanese and Zomi. Cadre members knew they had the global knowledge to help new Mustangs thrive at school, and they began leading tours soon after their group was founded.

“I think belonging is the root of everything to be successful at school,” Haack said.

Haack said that decision has benefited dozens of students like Maria and Teresa. A large number of Mustangs have provided positive responses to questions on recent school perception surveys. They have reported a greater feeling of inclusion and acceptance, stronger friendships and a more favorable overall view of McPhee.

“If you feel like you belong, you’re going to try more things in elementary and middle school and high school, and that’s what keeps you in school,” Haack said. “And so, I think just starting this now is the seed that they need to stay in school and be successful.”
 
Nayely said she has seen stress evaporate from the faces of new students when they go on their tours. She said her goal is to make that happen every single time she leads a future classmate through the building.
 
“I feel they should feel welcomed, or they could feel welcome or they could feel excited to be at our school,” Nayely said. “They could feel really, really, really, I’m, like, happy to be here.”
 
Haack said those heartwarming actions are why she is grateful to be part of the McPhee community.
 
“It makes me so proud of our students and just so hopeful for our future,” Haack said. “I mean, you met some of these kids. They just have such good hearts, and they really come from this at a place of they do want kids to belong and feel safe here. And I think that’s something that makes McPhee such a special place, with all the different cultures we have and people just feeling like they belong here.”
 
At LPS, we want to help ALL students belong and thrive. Explore our Student Wellbeing and Outcomes goals in the 2024-29 Strategic Plan.
 
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