NEW FAIRFIELD — A Sandy Hook-inspired program in which middle schoolers teach their fellow students about peer recognition, inclusion and teamwork could be a model for schools across the country, according to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy.

Murphy toured middle school classrooms in New Fairfield Friday to get a firsthand look at the “wingman” program, in which student leaders work during the school year to develop lesson plans, and for a day, take their teachers’ place in the classroom.

“I’m impressed at how much this is student-led and student-driven,” Murphy said. “These are eighth grade kids who are are coming up with pretty complex lesson plans. You can see how the buy-in from students is much more complete if the whole program is led by students.”

The event, the third of its kind this year, is a branch of Dylan’s Wings of Change, which was started by Ian and Nicole Hockley in 2013 in honor of their son Dylan, who was killed in the Sandy Hook School shootings.
Lessons and classroom activities focused on empathy, gossip, trust, risk-taking and perseverance. To help develop future leaders for the program, eighth graders taught seventh graders, and seventh graders taught sixth graders.

Murphy, who serves on the Senate’s education committee, visited several classrooms and spoke to students about their experiences. He said that he planned to share the experience with colleagues in the senate with the hope of expanding it nationally.

He said that an education law that passed Congress last year includes incentives for teaching social-emotional skills, but determining which programs work best is challenging.

“We’re realizing that schools can’t just teach reading, writing and arithmetic,” he said. “Schools must also teach behavior. This is in some ways a brand new world where we’re looking for the best programs and curriculum to recommend to schools across the country.”

Ian Hockley, who presented the idea to New Fairfield students last spring, said he was impressed with how the students have embraced the philosophy and made the program their own.

“New Fairfield has done an amazing thing with wingman,” Hockley said. “They took the idea and the concept that we brought to them and they created the program for that.

“They took the story of Dylan to heart,” he added. “The little boy that needed everyone to be his wingman because he had struggles and challenges in life. But when people did that, he got so much more fun, enjoyment and inclusion. Everyone has challenges, so we need to be everyone’s wingman.”

Eighth grader Wilson Brawley, 14, said that the program, which also includes five “challenges” throughout the year, has positively impacted the school.

“To have the wingman program in action makes for a more welcoming school environment that is more accepting,” Brawley said.

Isabella Scampone, also an eighth grader, agreed and said that she was happy to see how much the program has grown.

“Before there was a lot of chaos in lunch rooms, bullying and a lot of people not being nice to each other,” said Scampone, 14. “Now people have something to go toward to be nice and have an impact and I see a lot of students realizing they can help.”