From Self-Discipline to Healthy Socialization at CASE

Written by: Chelsie Kagay

At CASE, we teach our students that many different things affect their social well-being. One such thing is physical health. We have tried to address this by encouraging physical training to make sure that they keep healthy. This is especially important during a pandemic!

CASE stands for Character And Skills Education. We were able to live out our program’s name by teaching the youth about the character value, self-discipline, while simultaneously teaching them skill of setting attainable goals.

We taught this lesson through the concept of self-discipline. After learning the definition of self-discipline, students chose one simple way they could personally implement self-discipline every day. In order to be an example, the CASE leaders joined their students in choosing a goal to achieve that week. We also practiced self-discipline during the CASE program. Every day we would do a 5-minute workout and make sure to drink a whole bottle of water before CASE ended that day.

At the beginning of the week, some students were hesitant to pick a goal. However, by the end, they were proud that they had finished the workout, and they were ecstatic to tell us that they finished their waters. We noticed how this focus on self discipline changed the way our students interacted with each other. They were much more social during the week than previous weeks. Students talked to each other non-stop. The change demonstrated the social impact of implementing self-discipline through physical training and health goals. By learning about self-discipline, students improved their social relationships.

As the author of Hebrews 10:24-25 puts it, “Let us consider how we can stir up one another to love. Let us help one another to do good works.And let us not give up meeting together. Some are in the habit of doing this. Instead, let us encourage one another with words of hope...” This is the kind of lesson that we get to teach at CASE: Students learn the importance of holistic development, and how one part of their life affects every other part.

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The soul of the diligent is richly supplied.- Proverbs 13:4b

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CASE is a program of the Nashville After Zone Alliance. The Nashville After Zone Alliance is a network of coordinated after school programming for Metro’s middle-school students. NAZA is a partnership among the Nashville Public Library, MNPS, and other existing youth-serving groups. It is modeled on successful efforts in other cities and is organized around geographically-defined zones.