Hans Appel has been a Counselor at Enterprise Middle School in the Richland School District in WA for the past 17+ years. Recently, Hans launched his own blog about School Culture and this fall rolled out a student-led leadership podcast called Award Winning Culture: Hosted by Wildcat Nation.
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Hans is absolutely driven to helping students and educators find purpose and joy in life. Just listening to his passion when he talks about school culture and Character Strong made me want to learn more about him, his life, the kids, and his school. Below are excerpts from our conversation.
About you and where you live
I was born in Westfield, New Jersey, and an only child. My family moved to Corpus Christie, Texas when I was a little kid. My dad was a chemical engineer and my mom was an art teacher and interior designer. When I was in second grade, we moved to Richland, Washington so he could work at the Hanford Nuclear site. I spent most of my life here and went to Hanford High School where I met my wife, Jennifer and been married for 19 of the 24 years we’ve been together. Jennifer is a passionate educator and teaches at the same school as me, Enterprise Middle School, as a Language Arts teacher and teaches leadership. We are fortunate to work together and talk the same language.
We don’t have children of our own. Our kids are the kids at our school where we spend our energy. We have two dogs that are Shelties who are babies who we love and spoil. We live in the city of Kennewick which is in the Southeast corner of Washington and is much drier than Seattle. It is more like the climate of Napa, CA so it is conducive to growing wine.
Your journey in school
A school was good up through elementary school. Middle school was where school got really hard for me. My parents were fighting a lot in kind of an abusive home and not the greatest situation for me at that age. Learning in school really became secondary. I didn’t get good grades in middle school and didn’t find my own until high school where I got into sports. I’m 6’4” so I was a basketball player. The more I got into basketball, the more I realized that grades mattered. I had to keep my grades up to stay eligible, but that is also where I started getting excited about my education. I went to Central Washington University which was 2 hours away. I took business and psychology classes. The more psychology classes I took, the more I realized I was more into human behavior and how to help others.
While I was in college, my parents went through a divorce, and I became their mediator. This was a weird role to play as a 19 or 20-year-old kid, but I kind of helped both of them through that experience. So while all of that was going on, Jennifer was in the education program. She had come from a long line of educators who asked me if I ever thought of education. As I took more psychology classes and was learning to help others, it just felt like a natural fit. When I was graduating with a masters in school counseling and because of my own experiences, I knew, unequivocally, that I only wanted to work in middle school. I believed that was where the kids needed me the most.
School Counselor at Enterprise Middle School (EMS Counselor)
When I graduated, I went to work at Hanford Middle School which was my alma mater which closed in 2005. The district built Enterprise MS where most of the Hanford MS staff went. There’s this core group, two-thirds of us, that have been together for 15 to 20 years. It’s like we’re a family here, and it is pretty special. I’m lucky to have the best administration in the district and top of the line support staff and teachers who put kids first and care about making this place amazing. I realized as a school counselor there are a lot of things I don’t have influence over what happens to students at home or around decisions made at the district office. As a counselor, I have a lot of influence on what our school culture looks like and how that impacts experiences for students. Love this quote from Peter Drucker:
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
That makes so much sense to me because there are so many intentional small things we can do on a daily basis that lift other people’s spirits
About Wildcat Nation
Wildcat Nation is Our Brand. We have spent a few years building that brand. Joe Sanfellipo has this quote that really stuck with me.
“Your brand is what people say about you when you are not around.”
School brands have to go beyond mascots and logos and have to be rooted in authenticity. It can’t be a couple of people coming up with a cool name or idea. It has to be something that grows naturally. We focused on three main parts with these questions:
- Character: Will you do the right thing?
- Excellence: Will you do your best?
- Community: What will you do for others today?
Wildcat Nation has become who we are. A student mentioned to me that school for her is “a place where kindness is normal.”
Kindness and Social Emotional Learning program
We’ve been doing advisories for about 8 years that involve three areas:
- Social-emotional learning
- College and career
- Academic
The first 30 minutes of every Friday, students learning one of those aspects of education. Students loop with their teachers so they build relationships with their teachers that last three years. It has been pretty successful for a while, but we decided it was time to update our social-emotional curriculum.
We found in our research CHARACTER STRONG that was created by John Norlin and Houston Kraft who have combined character ed and social-emotional learning. We realized we were missing the character ed piece because character really gives social-emotional the why. Instead of teaching kids what not to do, it’s more a proactive way of teaching them how to be kind, to serve, and use empathy. It’s highly experiential because it gets kids up and moving around. Not only in lessons, but there are also challenges outside of advisory. They do things called “Character Dares” where they are asked to do things in the community, in the school, in other classes, and at home. There is part of this program that will move you to tears and impactful for teachers and students. The two-day training I had a year ago on Character Strong was the best professional training that I’ve had my entire career. It was a life changing event for me and highly recommend it for other educators. It really helps you deeply discover your why and is so powerful in how you can use that message to change the world.
What Character Strong looks like at EMS
Every morning, our kids greet others as they come to school. There are high fives, fist bumps, and music playing. It’s so powerful. No matter what the weather is, the kids make everyone feel welcome to our school. We have something that we call “Golden Broom” which is a demonstration of service to those who serve us. It is really special when we recognize people like our custodian and had the kids work for the custodian for 30 minutes to give him a break. They also made hot cider and cookies and brought those to the bus drivers. Those kinds of things were sprinkled throughout the year.
Golden Broom: “A Demonstration of Service to those who SERVE US.”
Blogging about Special Magic
It started because our school was getting attention and people wanted to see what is the special magic that is happening at Enterprise Middle School. John Norlin and Houston Kraft reached out to me to start writing some blog posts for Character Strong just sharing our story. That basically morphed into having other people at our school writing. So we asked educators and others LA Teacher, Parent, B-Ball Coach, Math Teacher who were experiencing the magic like I was. What they found was that those were some of the most popular blogs that were posted on Character Strong. When the students started sharing their stories, that’s when I got excited about student voice.
In early Spring 2018, I attended the annual SERVUS Conference in Kent, Wa where students, speakers, authors, celebrities, and athletes showed up with 7-8 hours of inspiring work. Just imagine all the best leadership minds in your state together in an arena to learn from each other. I was listening to some of the speakers and there was this holocaust survivor that was talking. I mentioned to my wife that we need to make this happen more than once a year.
Listen to more from Hans Appel about the student-led podcast and how it was created in the podcast along with information about the following awards:
-2018 ASCD Whole Child Award for the State of Washington
-2017-2018 Global Class Act Award for Random Acts of Kindness
Hans Appel has been a Counselor in the Richland School District, for the past 17+ years and at Enterprise Middle School since it opened in 2005. He’s passionate about school culture, servant leadership, and kindness. In 2018, EMS was awarded the ASCD Whole Child Award for the State of Washington, for creating a culture of excellence through kindness, service, and empathy.
Additionally, RandomActs of Kindness chose Wildcat Nation as the 2017-2018 Global Class Act Winner for “making kindness normal.” Recently, Hans launched his own blog about School Culture and this fall rolled out a student-led leadership podcast called Award Winning Culture: Hosted by Wildcat Nation. Hans is absolutely driven to help students and educators find purpose and joy in life.
Contact Info
HansAppel094@gmail.com
#AwardWinningCulture
@hansappel094
@emswildcats1
I was born and live in Texas my whole life. I taught for seven years and now in my fifth year as campus principal. I love teaching and working with the underserved families and kids. I have found a passion in reading and writing over the last couple years which led to the creation of Kids Deserve It, Stories from Webb, and now Sparks in the Dark with my best friend, Travis Crowder. He is a secondary teacher in North Carolina and we just published our book about reading and writing instruction. I love what I do which means getting to work with kids and adults and, yes, I do a little traveling and speaking too. I do balance my life though and make sure I spend time with my wife, Lisette, in the evenings, read a book, watch a movie, or sit and talk with my family. 
The moral is that all of us play a role in somebody else’s life, and all of us are important, have a job, and have to figure out what it is. The professor had us read all of the stories (over 150) and choose the best. Mine got voted the best by the class. The teacher helped get it copywritten my junior year, and didn’t do anything with it until my wife years later found it. She encouraged me to self-published it, sell it online, but I read it to my students every year. Then I tell them how I wrote it, struggled with the writing process with hundreds of drafts, but the more you practice at it, the better you get. 
Todd Nesloney is the Principal/Lead Learner at a PreK-5 school in Texas. He is an award-winning author for his work in co-authoring 
According to Eric Toshalis and Michael J. Nakkula in their toolkit “
The teacher invites students to take surveys and polls for a consensus on issues. The students consult with the teacher to share how they learn best and have conversations about their strengths, interests, and challenges. During the consultation, the teacher and student determine the most appropriate tools, resources, and learning strategies to support their learning. This is where the teacher starts developing the relationship with each student that changes as they learn. The student discusses how they plan to meet their learning goals and the best way to assess what they learned with the teacher. These conversations validate them as a learner. The teacher then designs the lesson from the feedback, surveys, and opinions to determine the best instructional strategies based on the diverse students at the extremes based on 
Students define their learning targets with the teacher, how they plan to meet learning goals and articulate how they will demonstrate mastery with evidence of learning. The student’s voice is encouraged because now they are more invested in how and what they learn. They are encouraged to attend meetings and participate by brainstorming ideas. Each student working alone or with others where they use the design thinking process around different topics either individually or in groups. They are responsible for how they design and meet their learning goals. They demonstrate evidence of their learning and their participation in a group.
Students take on roles in decision making in the classroom and school, i.e. committees, clubs, student council, etc. As part of a member of a project or group, they are learning together and how to collaborate. They learn from and teach each other and designing and creating together. Students contribute to the design of lessons and projects based on their interests and questions. You will see students in multiple areas in the room working in pairs, small groups, one or two students in a corner of the room, or a student working one-on-one with the teacher. Some students are sharing information virtually. You may even notice a group where one student is leading a brainstorming session with their peers using collaborative tools. The noise level changes and is beginning to sound more like a coffee shop with “controlled chaos.” You are now hearing an exciting buzz of voices from around the room.
Students have identified an authentic, real-world problem or challenge that they want to tackle. You may see students in the hallways or other areas in or outside of the school with an excitement about information or resources they discovered that could solve the problem. They are brainstorming ideas and generating solutions. Students are using technology effectively to make connections and build a network of peers. They are showcasing evidence of mastery demonstrating how they tackled the problem. They may even create a call to action in an exhibition, on a website, for their peers. This is where students are starting to advocate for themselves and are developing self-regulation skills. This is also where you see students protesting about crucial local and national issues like gun control and school safety. You will see more students at this level participating in global projects like the UN Sustaining Development Goals.
This is where students take on a leadership role around their passions, interests, or what they want to do to make a difference. They believe in the cause to the point that it drives everything they are doing now. They self-direct their learning and take responsibility for the outcomes. The teacher takes on the role of advisor, providing feedback and any support needed in finding connections and resources to meet goals around what each learner believes is their purpose for learning. They take on their purpose to make a difference and change the status quo. This is where students are advocating for others and what they believe in and have autonomy and agency. You may see students running for office, for school boards, for planning commissions, or running political campaigns. Their voice not only matters, in their leadership role they make sure their voice is heard.
Kevin McLaughlin currently works as a Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at Bishop Grosseteste University Lincoln. Before that, he taught in Primary Schools for twenty years and also worked as a Deputy Headteacher in England and Spain. Kevin is also a 
I’m really fortunate to have known Dave for many years through social media and was able to have a face-to-face interview for his podcast at Educon 2017 in Philadelphia. I always make sure to attend any of his presentations when I can and am so honored that Dave shared his journey with me. I even got another selfie with Dave at SXSWEDU in Austin, TX. Below are several excerpts and resources Dave mentioned in the podcast:
David Truss calls himself a husband, a parent, an educator, a student, a thinker, a dreamer, and an agent of change. 
When I graduated in 2010 from the University of SiouxFalls (USF), I went into teaching right away. I taught 4th grade at a low socio-economic school teaching at an elementary school in Sioux Falls, Lowell Elementary at that time was the Science, Math, and Technology school. It was a lot of fun and a great year. Prior to teaching, I was a travel softball coach for several years. Then, after a year of teaching, I got a unique opportunity to be the head coach at USF to help transition them from the NAIA ranks to the Division 2 NCAA ranks. My passion was with coaching and teaching. I was not married at the time and couldn’t pass this up. I was the head coach for two years and transitioned them to Division 2 with pieces in place to be successful to hand it over to the next coach.
We identified the best practices that are already in our classrooms and then put them in a personalized learning environment. 
Travis Lape is the Harrisburg School District’s Innovative Programs Director. He earned his B.A. Elementary Education and Master in Leadership at the University of Sioux Falls where his research focused on personalized learning models for Elementary and Middle Schools. In 2016, Travis was the recipient of the TIE 
The Development of Ownership by Barbara Bray (2018) is a derivative adapted from the original continuum and content by Bray and Kathleen McClaskey (2015) with graphics by Sylvia Duckworth. The content is licensed under a 
In the Understanding phase, students share how they learn best with the teacher. Being able to write how they learn and include their interests, talents, and aspirations gives students a voice in what and how they learn. These conversations with the teacher help start the shift of the responsibility for learning from the teacher to the student. In this phase, students also consult with the teacher to determine what resources, tools, and learning strategies can support what they need to meet learning goals and tasks. Students share evidence of what they are learning as they learn with the teacher and their peers. In this phase, the teacher with the students will choose the most appropriate resources to use and the evidence of learning to share and post on the walls.
In the Investment phase, students start developing the skills they need to work independently and collaborate with others. They see the value of goal setting with guidance from the teacher to determine the next action steps they will need to progress in their learning. They are now more invested in the process of learning. They know how to identify and choose the best evidence of their learning that demonstrates what they understand and learned. Walking into a room where students are invested in their learning looks different. This is the phase that validates them as learners. They are focused on completing tasks, reflecting on what they understand, and talking about their learning. They enjoy sharing the evidence they collected or created that demonstrates what they learned.
In the Autonomy phase, students as learners have acquired the skills and now have the self-confidence to work independently and collaboratively with others. By using innovative and creative strategies, learners extend their goals to now pursue their interests and passions to discover their purpose for learning. They are determined to self-monitor their progress as they meet their goals. Learners identify something they are interested in and completely involve themselves in the process. Autonomy means they are learning because they are motivated to learn. When you talk to learners in this phase, you can hear the excitement in their voices. Learners want to share what they are doing throughout the process and look forward to showcasing and exhibiting the process and products to peers, family, and possibly a global audience. When learners have autonomy, they own and drive their learning. Autonomy means that learners have agency.