Miami Herald - December 12, 2004
Brighton Watambwa, bwatambwa@herald.com

Not satisfied with their school's A+ rating, teachers and administrators at Crestview Elementary are teaching their students the benefits of political involvement and of reaching out to the community with projects aimed at improving literacy and helping disadvantaged children.

A newly elected student council and a new teacher are behind the initiatives.

The student council began a "Pennies for Presents" program on Nov. 19 to help buy presents for the Children's Home Society of Florida's Project SMILE, a foster care program for children and families whose lives have been touched by HIV/AIDS.

So far, the pennies add up to almost $400.

In February, the school will undertake a community literacy project in which community members will be invited to a "Reading Under the Moon" program. Parents and children will meet under a full moon on school grounds to read stories and raise literacy awareness.

In May, students will visit an elderly home in Broward, taking Mother's Day roses and spending time with the elderly. The home has not yet been chosen.

The council also plans a "Living Wall" project in which students will sell tiles to finance the building of a mural in the cafeteria where the current class may leave a message for future classes.

Manuel Maestre, 34, an accountant-turned-kindergarten teacher in his first semester at Crestview, is behind the initiative. He has sparked new life into the formerly inactive student council.

Inspired by this year's presidential contest, Maestre organized elections for the student council on Oct. 28.

With support from Principal Mildred Mejia, Maestre enlisted teachers and parents to help plan three debates for student council candidates in the cafeteria.

Maestre brought in two guest moderators to preside over each debate, involving 52 students running for 10 positions.

"I wanted to run it concurrently with our presidential election so the kids could feel that what is happening at our school is just as important as what is happening in the country," Maestre said.

The response was "awesome," he said, as election fever reached heights he did not expect. Students enlisted the help of friends and families for their campaigns, which were clean and friendly, he said.

Voting was done using the Survey Gold software program, and the tally showed that Danyael Williams was elected president of the student council and Tevin Gamble the vice president.

"It feels very, very good," Danyael, 9, said about her victory. "It's kind of a big responsibility, but I can handle it."

Danyael's mother, Roxanne, who helped with the election and was her daughter's campaign manager, was impressed with the young candidates' "great skill." They were "very motivated" in their campaigning and debates and learned a great deal from the experience, she said.

Mejia was surprised at the children's enthusiasm for the election, and she believes the proactive nature of the council is a direct result of the way in which the election process was run.

"I'm very happy to have Mr. Manny [Maestre]," the principal said. "He has shown excellent leadership. He took this project and ran with it."

Maestre has been so impressed with the council that he plans to take the members to Washington, D.C., in April to see first-hand what it would be like to be elected to national office and the responsibilities that go with it.

The school does not have the money to finance the outing, and Maestre is hoping for public donations.

"I feel the trip to D.C. will be the culmination of all their community volunteering," Maestre said.

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