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Most school days, West Woods Upper Elementary School Assistant Principal Michael Wilson is himself.

But on occasion, he swaps his tie for a cape and becomes Mindset Man, a blue and yellow-laden superhero who roams the halls of the fifth and sixth grade school trying to rid the school of fixed mindsets.

"Mindset Man," students exclaim as they walk past him in the hallway, giving him high fives and asking for selfies.

"Hi, Mr. Wilson," said another student.

"Who's Mr. Wilson?" the masked superhero responds.

Mindset Man is how Wilson, and Principal Alicia Bowman, promote the growth mindset theory to the school's students.

"The idea of growth mindset is in a lot of our core beliefs," Wilson said. "We were thinking of a way to generate excitement and bring the idea to life."

Mindset Man was born at a school assembly in 2015 and has been a staple of West Woods ever since. His purpose is to promote the values of a growth mindset.

"Growth mindset is the belief that mistakes are opportunities to learn," Wilson said.

"Smart is something that you can become, not something you are," Bowman said. "You're not born smart. Some people have a fixed mindset but that's the opposite of growth. They feel you're either good at math or you're not, rather than the idea that you can get smarter and you can grow and you can get better."

The two believe that by creating a superhero to promote these values, growth mindset is something the students will pick up on easier.

"It generated excitement around growth mindset and gave a face to the idea," Wilson said. "There's a buzz and they're excited. It's a fun way to spread the message because it's a difficult message sometimes to spread. It makes it more tangible. We are trying to think of creative ways to keep the idea alive."

Wilson said students of course know he's Mindset Man and that students like to have fun with his two identities. Wilson plays right along with them.

"In the hallway, they'll come up to me and say 'Hey Mindset Man,' and my reply is always that I've heard of him and that I'd like to meet him some day," Wilson said. "But they know it's me."

Bowman said she believes the superhero has paid off and that students in the school could define growth mindset if you asked them to.

"The idea that effort matters is one of our core beliefs as a district," Bowman said. "If you asked students, what does it mean to have growth mindset, I am sure they would articulate to you what it means. And we want kids to believe that the work they do here matters and that they can grow and improve and be the best they can be. We want kids taking risks and trying things."