Teaching kindness lessons and practicing kind acts can positively impact every part of a school’s climate. Through the Middle School Kindness Challenge, we improved the quality of education, communication and culture of our school.

To kick off the program, Mr. Matthew Cohen organized a 7th grade kindness committee composed of students. The committee met and discussed a plan to get other students involved in the Challenge. Committee members decided to visit classrooms and speak to students at lunch to spread the message as well. They also created posters and talked about the program on the morning announcements.

Mr. Richard Martinez spoke to teachers at staff meetings and encouraged them to register their classes and complete the kindness activities.

The committee created a “kindness mailbox,” and by the end of the Challenge, more than 700 kindness postcards were dropped off in it. Over the course of a week, “kindness messengers” delivered kindness cards to students, staff and members of the school community. They read positive messages and words of encouragement from others, and many of the cards were then displayed around the school.

Schools should participate in the Challenge because kindness can enhance a student’s lifelong ability to be a global scholar and citizen.

Teachers at our school reported a positive change in the way their students interacted and socialized with each other as a result of the Kindness Challenge.