Knight Brigade

“It wouldn’t have happened if Hannah (Rhodes) didn’t come to me with the idea,” said Nancy Morris ’03, ’12M assistant professor in Gannon’s education program.

Hannah Rhodes ’20 – a recent graduate of the early childhood special education program at Gannon – had approached Morris to share her idea following a positive behavior supports class.

“I was working at Strong Vincent Middle School … and realized the strategies we were learning in class could benefit the students at the school,” Rhodes said.

Morris has participated in service-learning with Strong Vincent for several years. So, when Rhodes came to her with the idea, she said it was easy to contact Katrina Byrd, the community school director at Strong Vincent Middle School, to figure out a way to put the idea into action.

Strong Vincent Middle School works with United Way of Erie County, Lead Partner Gannon University and Corporate Partner Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. As a lead partner, Gannon helps to mobilize community assets and coordinate resources in cooperation with Strong Vincent’s school staff. The community school model is a strategy that organizes school and community resources around student success. It is both a place and a set of partnerships that help address health, wellness and the social needs of its students, families and the surrounding neighborhood.

The Knight Brigade program that Gannon and Strong Vincent collaborated on was the first program of its kind for the school and has brought social and emotional learning skills to about 50 sixth graders over two semesters. Gannon students were responsible for working with the middle school’s teachers to identify what skills needed to be developed, and they designed lesson plans around each skill to teach in small groups.

Social and emotional skill development has recently garnered more focus in the K-12 system, Morris explained. “Students are coming in with a gap in these skills. It’s impacting their academics, and schools are putting more social skills curriculum into their day because of it,” she said.

Rhodes was one of several Gannon students who developed and delivered these lessons to the middle school students through the program.

“We heard feedback from teachers on how their (students’) grades had gone up,” Rhodes said. “It was rewarding to see how much of an impact we had. I was grateful to be in Dr. Morris’ class to experience this. It strengthened my confidence to become a public-school teacher.

“Gannon’s partnership with Strong Vincent … benefits both bodies of students,” Rhodes said. “In this project, we learned just as much from our students as they learned from us. The partnership builds a community and mentorship aspect that I think is … a positive experience for us to be able to provide.”

Morris added the Knight Brigade “was created through idea sharing, collaboration and working together. These types of partnerships can only enhance the K-12 and higher education experience. It’s a win-win for everybody. We’re making our community stronger.”

Morris said she is proud of what her students have done and proud to be part of the partnership.

“Hannah has such a passion for this and for the Erie Community Schools and Erie City School District,” Morris said. “She really went above and beyond to make sure it happened and it was successful.”

The Strong Vincent students in the program were happy her idea was successful, too. “

I’ve learned how to be nicer to people and the teachers are helping me reach my goals,” said sixth-grader Olivia Burton. “They understand us and are helping us get to where they are. They’re great at teaching us.”