Palmeto Bay’s third annual Kids Town Hall, hosted by Councilmember Karyn Cunningham, took place at Dr. Henry E. Perrine Academy of the Arts on Mar. 14, from 3 to 4:15 p.m. About 75 students, a number of teachers, parents and village officials attended the meeting in the school’s cafetorium.
The theme was conquering with kindness and the topic was school safety, as well as asking for the students’ input on how to make village parks into “kindness zones.”
Councilmember Cunningham welcomed everyone and introduced the keynote speaker, Daniel Puder, a social entrepreneur, professional wrestler and former professional mixed martial artist. He is founder of the motivational organization My Life My Power.
Puder asked the students questions about “what is kindness?”, “what does team mean?” and “what does understanding mean?”
He had one of the students write down the other students’ answers on an easel pad and discussed each as they went. He also conducted exercises in which teams of two students each were formed, with one student talking for two minutes while the other listened intently.
Then it was the second student’s turn to repeat back what each had learned so they all could learn the value of listening with understanding.
“You all have the opportunity to have a big impact on the community, if you just listen and understand,” Puder said.
He also told them that significance breeds success. Success is what happens to you, significance is what happens through you.
“It’s how you focus your energy on serving others and helping others, and building your team and having kindness. How do you do that?
When I was a kid I was bullied because I had challenges learning. When I would read out loud my brain would skip words and blur words and it didn’t make sense for me. The kids would make fun of me.”
Puder said that years later when he was in mixed martial arts some of those same kids liked him, not because of the person that he was but because he was famous. That led him to want to help people of all ages connect better and understand each other better.
Palmetto Bay Policing Unit Commander Major Gady Serralta spoke to the students briefly about what to do in dangerous situations, and there was a question and answer session. Then the students were asked to write their suggestions for making the village parks better on sticky notes and place them on large maps of the various parks.
“I was so glad to have the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Henry E. Perrine Academy of the Arts’ Principal Carla Rivas and MMA Champion Daniel Puder,” Cunningham said. “It is important to hear from our village’s students on the things that are important to them.
Each year we have incorporated their voices into policy or an initiative, like the new playground equipment at the Bridget Allison Pier Playground and the painting of our skate park.
“This year they came up with many great ideas to create ‘kindness zones’ in our parks. I hope they come to understand that even though they are young, their voices matter in Village Hall.”
Dr. Henry E. Perrine Academy of the Arts principal Carla Riva said she was glad the Kids Town Hall took place there.
“I think it’s fantastic,”Riva said. “The children get a voice, which is very important. We need to listen to our kids. To me, this is instrumental. I do it a lot in my school.
She said she was happy that the village took the time to listen to the children, because they are important and they have really great ideas.
“This empowers them, to be able to bring it back to the school and the rest of the students. It’s a really empowering thing for the kids and I think it’s important for us as adults. We have a very busy life but we need to set out some time to just listen.”
Puder considered the talk a success.
“I was very pleased,” Puder said. “These students are very loving, considerate and determined. I want to get them involved with being active and supportive, but I also want to show them how to listen to understand.”
