all right everybody take a seat come in
real close when I first met you there's
a lot of defeat there's a lot of sadness
a lot of anger I wanted kids to love
school I want to teach us to love school
I want you to love being a teacher and
kid because that's what we got into this
to be teachers to be educators it's kind
of bad exams what it's about is us
loving each other loving kids coming to
school every day
to make a difference in somebody's life
and that's what we did
[Music]
the essence of school is preparing kids
for life no preparing them for something
bigger to become something special to
make a difference in the world you know
life is about the opportunity have to
impact the world around you so we need
to be that positive influence in that
positive message because they might not
get that somewhere else
Fred Lynn was considered one of the
toughest schools in the state of
Virginia now kids have been through a
lot
poverty crime violence we were a
underachieving failing school that was
the expectation that we couldn't rise up
from underachievement failure we're
really on a mission to show the world
what can truly happen when you believe
in your kids let's be amazing let's make
a difference thank you all right let's
go have a great day being a great
teacher is hard work you have the
hottest job on the planet but what I'm
going to tell you is I've seen some
things with some negativities creeping
in and I don't want it how kids are not
getting any favors our kids have it hard
enough as it is so we have to do
something different because some of our
results have not changed we got work to
do
let's go get to class let's go I've put
a lot of energy and effort into running
around the building chasing kids down
the corridors to ensure that shifting
culture 5 4 3 2 I still see folders in
the middle here tidy it up so I'm not
gonna here boat peep out of here again
Emily get to work
before I got here to Fred Lynn we've
been unaccredited for a number of years
becoming an accredited school means that
you're meeting some minimum required
academic performance levels we're on a
mission to give a school back to its
community it is hard to be an authentic
relevant teacher every day you know why
because it takes preparation it takes
effort it takes time but if we don't
expose them we don't give them those
opportunities we're setting them up for
failure
year after year we failed the kids start
to feel the t-shirt feel are we gonna
fail again it's hard to get up every day
and thinking like the world thinks
you're gonna fail but all of a sudden
Hamish Brewer comes in with this whole
new mindset and this whole new idea of
you can do it however you want if it's
good for kids and it's good for
education and it was easy for that idea
from Len list to take oh hey good
morning everybody what do you think did
you guys have put them together for me
this is awesome skateboard program is
about advocating for every child I'll
take two of them now you know the one
thing about skateboarding back in the
day was they were the bad kids don't
hang out with them whereas we're trying
to say that every kid deserves to just
be able to be themselves so if we do it
by giving her like skateboards drum roll
please all right the winner is hey what
do you think
it's the best catch yours okay so
friends the most important thing that
takes place in a school is relationships
nothing moves without a relationship and
we said love was gonna be at the top of
the list that was a key component that
we had to get back to leading and
teaching through love I couldn't be more
proud of you well done man you feel good
all right love you buddy all right you
ready you ready as you can see this is
not your traditional sized soccer game
we have 60 to 80 kids all the time they
just love soccer so we let him play when
they come here in order to come to
soccer club they have to do two days of
academic time so the way we get them in
to do some academics of math and
language arts is by having them play
soccer so if they weren't here they
definitely wouldn't be getting their
math and language arts tutoring it is
it's a win-win good kick Stephanie we
get better test scores homework gets
done and those those relationships that
you build out here translate to into the
classroom into the hallway these kids I
can tell them anything
and they'll listen because they see us
out here having fun Oh heads up
[Music]
okay let's rock and roll the last day of
school is like going into the 1920s the
last day of school is like the end of
World War one the whole school year is
done no more homework what do you feel
when like the busses pull off yeah crazy
happy like you're ready to go right
that's the 1920s there's this cultural
change at friendly we've moved in the
past from all these struggles and things
and now we have kids really working hard
in the classroom so what we do is
because of this cultural change the kids
need a big push they want to see cool
things so we're gonna provide this
opportunity to them that really in the
past never happened and a lot of schools
won't happen yeah what mr. Breuer came
into our school I mean he has this idea
of like if you're gonna be at school it
might as well be fun we do the same
thing like we don't want to just show up
to work and be bored if we have to be
here let's make this not only an amazing
experience for our students but amazing
experience for everyone my name is Paul
Felder and I am a UFC lightweight
fighter one of the reasons we brought
this guy in is he's got a no-quit
attitude
he's an underdog just like all of us
[Music]
but
[Applause]
you guys don't understand do you have
something really special going on here
at this middle school this is when you
find out who you are and how successful
you're gonna be it's when you're tired
you don't want to take a test you don't
want to study your books anymore you
don't want to think about all that stuff
that's what's gonna make you guys better
right sometimes we're not always going
to be successful not every single time
you're gonna win some you're gonna lose
some but as long as it at the end of the
day you know I did everything possible
to achieve my goal you can live with
whatever the results are going to be a
lot of people would question you for
bringing a UFC fighter and maybe it
represents the wrong things I say no it
matches what we're trying to do as a
school grit determination work hard
fight hard they've got to make tough
decisions when nobody's looking when
it's easier not to study our fight night
just became test night
[Music]
now here we go I could not be more
serious when I say this you know I don't
care about grades I care about what
effort and you have to do the work here
we go
the mission was to get it created but
I'm not looking just for accreditation
I'm looking for something bigger I'm
trying to prove the whole world that
anybody can learn that it doesn't matter
where you come from you can be somebody
if we're doing what's best for kids each
and every day the result takes care of
itself
pencils down thank you for the most
amazing school year this year to our
eighth graders all the very best for the
future and tell everybody you went to
the Franklin middle school in addition
somebody didn't tell you today that they
love you mr. Breuer is telling you today
that he loves you have a terrific day
let's go I'm gonna try and get dr.
castara again to see if those scores
stand up this is big this big whole year
riding on it right here the whole yeah
hey I'm okay how are you did we is
everything standing up we out everybody
have a good summer
bye Gaza survived no fun here on there
yeah you too but go get it now all right
make the most of it be the best that you
can be and I love you all right
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
it's really it's very emotional right
now right and did something special man
we change the lives and change the whole
community gave back hope told the school
to love again all right all staff report
to the gym all staff to the gym told you
I'm going to change the game and change
the world right miss Cole Mel wants you
to take the first shot at this
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
there's something buried in here was the
flag I fished out of a trash can at the
beginning of the year there's a school
of excellence flag in there we want to
tell you something right now
we made it in science we made it in
history we made it in math
and we made in language arts
[Applause]
we're showing people that poverty will
not define anybody's outcome that being
a second language learner will not
define anybody's outcome life will not
give our kids a handout and you didn't
give them a handout you made him earn it
you made him keep earning it you made
him keep working so again
congratulations I work for the best
school in the county we're done what we
set out to do
that's only stage one the next
nationally distinguished school and
Prince William is going to be right down
here all right let's go thank you for
following our journey here Fred Lynn
middle school if you'd like to see more
stories like this of people changing the
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