Third- through fifth-graders from Graystone, Simonds and Williams schools learned these avian negotiating skills at a Nov. 7 "leadership challenge" sponsored by Project Cornerstone. These student leaders were charged with sharing what they learned with younger students at their respective schools, and for coming up with a plan to make their campuses more caring places to be.

Founded by the Youth Alliance of Santa Clara County, Project Cornerstone is a collaboration of more than 75 organizations whose goal is to build a web of support around the county's children and teens.

"The power of the program is in the common language you develop," said Williams Principal Sue Walker.

This language is based on 41 developmental assets identified by the Search Institute of Minneapolis "a measurable set of values and experiences that that help young people grow up to become healthy, caring and responsible adults." These assets are divided into "internal" categories such as support and empowerment, and external categories such as "commitment to learning" and "social competencies."

At the elementary school level, the leadership challenges focuses solely on asset No. 5: providing a caring, encouraging school environment. To this end, the Williams students who attended the Nov. 7 training session came away with a plan to put tally sheets in each classroom so students can note when they feel they've been bullied. They also wanted to put up signs in the school cafeteria proclaiming Williams a "bully-free zone."

"It's very empowering for the kids to decide what we're doing this year," Walker said.

Williams students who undergo the Project Cornerstone training will pass along their newfound diplomatic skills to their lower-grade "buddy" classes, Walker said. The hope is that these students will carry what they've learned with them to middle school.

"Even if they don't take a formal leadership role, they'll have the skills to help lead their group of friends in the right direction," Walker added.

In Almaden, both Castillero and Bret Harte middle schools have Project Cornerstone in place. Castillero was named a 2003 Project Cornerstone Champion for its success in creating a more caring school environment.

Project Cornerstone is in its third year at Castillero. The core group there is made up of 15 students who represent the different school populations, but 45 to 50 students attend the group's weekly meetings. The first Project Cornerstone group initiated a peer-counseling program, in which 27 students are now active.

At sixth-grade orientation this year, incoming students who had been involved in Project Cornerstone at their elementary schools stepped up to carry on the program at Castillero.

"The kids have really tackled some big issues. They realize it's a continuous effort," said Castillero art teacher and Project Cornerstone adviser Gwen Anderson. "We're seeing a lot more teachers bringing the assets into their curriculum."

In order for Project Cornerstone's web to have any real supportive value, teachers and parents must also embrace its teachings. "The whole concept is what adults can do to intentionally build assets," said Simonds principal Linda Kakes.

Almaden parents participated in this month's leadership challenge, performing a skit about how to employ "the way of the dove" when confronted by a bully. Graystone parent Karen Haley, a parent facilitator for Project Cornerstone, was helping train a parent group from Simonds.

"It's changed my relationship with my kids," said Haley, who has a daughter in third grade and a son in seventh. "What I learned in Project Cornerstone helped us develop a more open relationship. That's why I became a facilitator.

"These workshops make you realize your responsibility to all kids, not just your own," Haley added. "There's lots of stuff we learned from the 41 developmental assets that we already knew as parents, but we'd never given it a name."

Last year Graystone's Project Cornerstone students came up with a plan to make their school more environmentally friendly. They requested and got recycling bins for each classroom, and they're responsible for making sure the lights are switched off when no one is in a classroom.

"We're seeing a big change at our school," Haley said. "We're working really hard on making Graystone a caring school climate."

Ideally, Project Cornerstone should be used as the framework for all relationships between adults and children, according to Linda Sylvius, an educational consultant who facilitated the leadership challenge. "We should put ourselves out of business somewhere down the line, but that's going to take awhile," Sylvius said.

Castillero's Anderson concurred. "It takes a long time to embed the idea in the whole strand," she said. "I stick with it because I have support from Project Cornerstone."

The Castillero community has seen the measurable results of its efforts. When Project Cornerstone was established in 1999, the Search Institute and the Santa Clara County Office of Education surveyed 7,000 students in seventh through 12th grades to get a snapshot of how many of the 41 assets local youth possessed. Survey respondents averaged 18.2 assets, far below Project Cornerstone's goal of 31-40 assets per youth. The 117 Castillero students surveyed possessed an average 22.5 assets.

This average increased slightly to 23.3 when Castillero re-administered the survey to 214 seventh-graders during the 2002­03 school year. Other changes were more profound: 12 percent more students said Castillero has a caring school environment, while 8 percent more said the school provides clear rules and consequences for breaking them. On the "external assets" side, 9 percent more students said they were optimistic about their futures.

Anderson said part of the reason for Castillero's success is that the school has employed some nontraditional student leaders to spread Project Cornerstone's message. "We invited some students who showed leadership potential but didn't realize they had it," she explained. "These are kids who would never dream of running for student council. My biggest challenge is to keep these kids involved."

Even if these students leave the Project Cornerstone fold, Anderson said she's confident that they'll continue to put what they've learned into practice. They're really aware that respect is an important issue here," she added.