Photo provided to the Times Observer A “Manners Challenge” has grown p ositive fruit at Youngsville Elementary School in recent weeks. Here are Haley Demko, right, and Reimington Bellotti receiving their ‘Good Manners’ certificates from Julie Morrison.

No one would question that the most important part of a child’s education is their academic learning.

But a foundational piece of attending school is to learn how to engage with others.

And a “Manners Challenge” at Youngsville Elementary School has turned that into a bit of a competition.

“Our goal is to make it so the kids are using their manners so often that it just comes out naturally,” Principal Amy Stimmell said.

The idea originated with Julie Morrison, a classroom aid who pitched the idea to Stimmell.

She said she embraced it because it provided “an opportunity for the students to learn the importance of using manners in their everyday lives.

“Since we have been doing a different challenge each week, YES have seen a huge increase in the amount of please and thank you’s each day,” Stimmel said. “Students are now telling us to have a good day, picking up items if they see (them) on the ground, saying please while asking for their lunches or items in the office.”

More than just the physical actions, though, are the emotions that those actions flow from – kindness, empathy, compassion.

“One of the manners’ challenges is also to be kind,” Stimmel said, “telling someone you like their shirt, or they have cool shoes. Telling someone they did a great job at saying the pledge of allegiance or did awesome in gym class.

“Those little gestures are going to make someone else feel good as well as the person saying it.”

While a healthier school climate is certainly beneficial, the hope is that the manners and kindness the kids pick up stays with them.

“Using good manners can help our students go farther in life,” Stimmel said. “Our students have embraced this goal so far.”