Manning High School teacher Leila McCoy's public speaking class was just a little tired of people dogging Manning when bad things happened.
The class was also noticing a "lack in town pride and a poor outlook among many of our townspeople and many students," she said.
McCoy asked the students what they could do to change the situation. After all, she wanted them to not be like the complainers, simply running at the mouth about how many bad things happen in Manning, while doing nothing to make things better.
"I told the students how I was always told by my mother that life is about perspective; to find the good in everything and eventually everything is doable and everyone is likeable," McCoy said.
It's a small gesture, but the class is now sending positive test messages every morning. They come under McCoy's name, but the students are the ones who developed the plan to spread good words to their hometown.
"We decided to start small and start by changing the mentalities and perspectives of our students," McCoy said.
The class set a motto: "Be the change you want to see." "Be the change" is the group's logo.
"After hearing about a former student of mine who would send Bible versus to her friends every morning, the students asked if we could set up a Remind101 to send motivational messages and reminders out each morning," McCoy said. "From there, our project snowballed."
The students set a list of things they thought were good ideas for "motivating and changing Manning."
"I assigned point values for each task - volunteering with a teacher, having group/community gatherings, starting and maintaining a website, starting and maintaining an Instagram, etc.," McCoy said.
Ultimately, if the students get 200 people to subscribe to the Remind101 list and remain on it, the students will get 20 points on their task lists.
Remind101 sends positive test message affirmations each morning to users.
To subscribe, text @werchange to 81010.
The group also has weekly motivation videos and a blog, csd2bethechange.weebly.com.
While the messages come under McCoy's name, the students are in charge of the quotes and messages they want to see go out to the community daily.
