Kindness is on the radar at Evans Middle School and one class is working to keep the momentum going.
Shelby Countryman sees no reason to stop focusing on kindness after last week. Countryman is referring to the national Random Acts of Kindness Week that Evans Middle School participated in.
As a sixth grader in Mrs. Barnhart's class, Countryman and her peers were leaders in building-wide efforts to promote kindness.
"We sparked an idea and other classes grabbed onto that," said Cason Palm.
Their first activity was "Give A Smile, Share A Smile." It involved making smily emojis and sharing them with random students. "We would find someone we didn't know and give them one of the smiles," students shared. The goal was that the recipients would pass them on. With over 100 smiles handed out, students hope the smiles are still circulating around their school.
It made Eli Moughler happy when he handed out his smiles. "You see a smile on their face," said Palm.
Students recently learned about third party compliments and wanted to incorporate that concept into action. Third party compliments are "positive rumors," according to Evans guidance counselor, Megan Wetrich. "We were the class who put up the bulletin board" with compliments, said Amy Vasquez. Some students were overwhelmed when they read compliments about themselves. The project was highlighted in a school-produced video.
"Everyday I keep seeing people add compliments" to the bulletin board, said Moughler.
"Millions of people" participated, according to Countryman.
Their class continues to promote kindness. They created a drop box for the community and are accepting donations. More projects are in their future.
"Kindness is contagious," said Vasquez.
