Kindness Begins Here

At Hollister Early Childhood Center in Hollister, Missouri, the Tiger Code is simple: Be Kind. Be Safe. Be a Learner. The building serves children from infancy through first grade, and in a community where school can be one of the most stable places in a child’s day, those words are taken seriously. 

Principal Amy Jo Kilgore, Vice Principal Dr. Dallas DeWeese, Counselor Amber Werner, and a team of veteran educators are working to make sure kindness is something children practice, not just something they’re told. Even before children can fully articulate what kindness means, they can begin to live it.

The school keeps kindness simple and within students’ reach: using kind words, listening, and not interrupting. Through Teach Kindness lessons like Name the Feelings, students learn to recognize emotions, regulate themselves, and care for others. These skills naturally align with a school environment where emotional development and friendship are part of daily learning. When Mrs. Werner introduces a lesson, teachers reinforce it in their classrooms so the learning sticks. “It’s not just a one-off,” one teacher explained. “We bring it into our room and carry it through with our kids.”

Welcome Wavers line up outside—board members, local businesses, high school athletes, police officers, and even firefighters with their truck—to greet students as they arrive. “You never know which parent or which kid had a rough start,” says assistant principal Dr. DeWeese. “A warm good morning can make all the difference.”

For World Kindness Day, families painted rocks with kind words and cheerful designs and placed them in a garden near the entrance. Students were proud to contribute, knowing their creations might brighten someone else’s day. The display remains, even through the winter.

At Hollister, kindness isn’t a trait children grow into. Rather, it’s a practice they begin the moment they walk through the door. In a place where children are just starting to understand what school feels like, Hollister is teaching something that may last far beyond any single lesson: kindness begins here. It begins in the greeting at the door, in the words children choose, in the rocks they paint with their families, and in the steady care that makes school a place they can rely on.  “Kindness is who we are,” states Principal Kilgore. “When we choose to be kind, we create a place where every child feels safe, valued, and ready to learn.”