Slaying ‘Dragons’ Saint George’S Program Accentuates The Positive

Katie Petrie is a Dragon Slayer. It’s not obvious by looking at her though, as she joins an imaginary tea party with some kids at Hillyard Head Start. There are no shiny swords and definitely no fiery snout; instead, there are only laughs and hugs.

“It’s really fun,” the eighth-grader said of the places she visits as a Dragon Slayer. “It lets us see different sides of the community. If you always see the same side, you never understand other points of view.”

And that’s what being a Dragon Slayer is all about, at least at Saint George’s school.

Started about 15 years ago, the Dragon Slayers program aims to give middle-school students positive ways to learn how attitude influences the experiences they have.

Dale Sachs, head of Saint George’s lower and middle schools, explains: “Most people are defeated by themselves - by a voice saying, `I can’t’ or `I won’t.’ Those are the `dragons’ inside. If you can slay those, you have a greater chance of being successful.”

The program has two components: community service and physical challenges.

The community service component gives students a chance to get away from the school campus once a month and give something to the community. For Saint George’s students - most of whom come from upper middle class families - it is also a chance to experience things they normally wouldn’t.

“How big a person you are is measured not by what you have, but by what you can give,” Sachs tells students.

Dragon Slayers have helped out at the Spokane Food Bank, animal shelters and senior centers. Last week, 10 students spent time at Hillyard Head Start.

“They’re very good with the kids,” said Melodie Taisey, a special education teacher at Head Start. “The kids really look forward to them coming. They enjoy interacting with the teens.”

The physical challenges component of Dragon Slayers involves things like canoe trips, ropes courses and cross country skiing.

An objective is to teach kids to be open-minded. Sachs said at first the cross-country skiing trip always elicits groans and comments like, “That’s what my parents do.”

But after they set a small goal - for beginners that might just be doing a small loop around a parking lot - and conquer it, attitudes change.

“The next day they say, `That rocks!”’ Sachs said.

Teachers align academics with the Dragon Slayers’ trips. When students take the canoe trip, for example, the science teacher might talk about water flow and tributaries. The math teacher might have students use a map and string to figure out how far they paddled.

As a Dragon Slayer, eighth-grader Roby Gallotti said he’s learned a lot about teamwork and that he’s no good at the bow of a canoe. Still, he enjoys the program.

“It makes us go out of school and see how life is outside Saint George’s,” he said. “It’s important because it gives us a better view of society and culture.”