January 23, 2019
The Colorado Springs School will host a screening of the hit documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? The film highlights Fred Rogers’ radically kind ideas and how he helped children navigate some of life’s toughest emotions on his PBS television show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” which spanned three decades.
“In today’s anxiety-ridden world, sometimes it feels as though the challenges of childhood, and therefore parenting, are overwhelming,” said Jessica James, Director of Communications and Advancement at CSS. “We want to offer the community a reason to connect and be in conversation with each other around a simple message of goodness. Mr. Rogers uplifted many of us as children and through this film, his legacy can inspire us as adults to harness the power of kindness.”
Mr. Rogers, who died in 2003, is credited for promoting social and emotional learning. The process helps children understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, establish and maintain healthy relationships, and make responsible decisions.
Similarly, these benefits are why CSS adopted Yale University’s RULER program in 2014 to encourage students’ social and emotional learning. Yale research shows that students nationwide who participate in the program experience less stress, better sleep, fewer disciplinary incidents, and do better in school than students who do not. Beyond RULER, CSS educators and school counselor incorporate goal-setting, mindfulness, health and wellness, physical activity, and reflections into the student experience.
Please join us for the screening of Won’t You Be My Neighbor? on Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 6:30 p.m., in the Louisa Performing Arts Center on the CSS Campus at 21 Broadmoor Avenue in Colorado Springs. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public; seating is limited to 300. Parents and guardians are encouraged to attend, and students are welcomed under adult supervision. The film is rated PG-13. Wear your favorite cardigan! Milk and cookies will be served in the lobby. We are pleased to co-host this event with Rocky Mountain PBS.
A thoughtful discussion will follow the film based on the following prompts:
• Mr. Rogers would say, “Children have very deep feelings, just the way parents do, just the way everybody does, and our striving to understand those feelings and to better respond to them is what I feel is the most important task in our world.” What is the significance of this? If you are an educator, parent, or caregiver, how does this thought resonate with how you interact with children?
• What is Mr. Rogers’ cultural significance? In what ways has his legacy endured past the popularity of the television program?
• How did Mr. Rogers and his show engage with social issues? Are there issues today that we can approach with a similar discipline of respectfulness and thoughtfulness?
In case you can’t attend this community event, Rocky Mountain PBS will be airing the film on its local channel on Saturday, February 9, 2019, at 9:00 p.m.
