Rayne Catholic Elementarynamed ‘Lighthouse’ school

The city of Rayne’s school system includes three schools who participate in the Leader In Me learning program, a 21st century leadership and life skills process that enables students to not only learn, but lead inside and outside the confines of their school.
Rayne is unique in that two of only three Louisiana schools named “Lighthouse” schools are located here. The newest is Rayne Catholic Elementary.
Rayne Catholic received the distinguished award on Friday, Feb. 6, during the 2015 Leader In Me Symposium held at CajunDome in Lafayette.
Accepting the award and banner were the school’s Junior Lighthouse officers, including Morley Richard, Gracie Menard, Nick Gautreaux, Luke Kibodeaux, Lance Castille and Jack Himel.The Franklin Covey” Leader In Me (LIM) program has become a popular school improvement process used in K-12 schools worldwide. Currently, LIM has been implemented in well over 1,000 schools throughout the world, with very few achieving “Lighthouse” status.
The Leader In Me program is an innovative, school-wide model that increases teacher effectiveness, student engagement, and academic achievement, while preparing students to be leaders in the 21st century.The model has three key features: (1) Everyone has the potential to be leaders; (2) The “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” can be learned and applied in all lives; and (3) LIM uses an “inside-out” approach in its implementation, ultimately changing the community at large.
The complete list of the school’s 7 Habits are:
1. Be Proactive (you are in charge);
2. Begin with the End in Mind (Have a plan);
3. Put First Things First (Work First, Then Play);
4. Think Win-Win (Everyone Can Win);
5. Seek First to Understand Then to be Understood (Listen Before You Talk);
6. Synergize (Together is Better);
7. Sharpen The Saw (Balance Feels Best).
RCE Principal Fred Menard commented on the award, “We are honored to become a Leader in Me Lighthouse School. We have witnessed positive results in academics, behavior, social and emotional growth, as well as student accountability since implementing The Leader in Me process at Rayne Catholic. It has been a phenomenal marriage of our Catholic Faith and Leadership Principles.
“After all, who better practiced the Seven Habits than Jesus Christ, our ultimate leader, who better began with the End in Mind?” Menard added. “We are not only building leaders in our community, we are building leaders in our church. As our mission states, we strive to form a family of leaders and learners who know, love and serve God.”
Menard continues, “Our students, parents and faculty synergize in all aspects of life. Our student body feels confident and knows they can each have a voice in all areas of our school. They truly understand that this is their school and decisions concerning our environment should be made through them. Students, pre-k through grade eight, are empowered and own over 200 jobs from academics to facilities; for instance, if something breaks at school our student Facilities’ Team fixes it.”
Congratulations to the students, staff and faculty of RCE on a job well done!