Returning to the Golden Rule

At Howard Middle School in Macon, Georgia, kindness champions Patrice Thurman and Donna Burner are helping students come back to something deeply familiar and always worth teaching again: the Golden Rule. In a school of 1,000 students, that shared focus matters. It gives students and staff a common place to return when peer conflict rises or everyday interactions begin to lose their sense of care. Howard has been using Teach Kindness resources for four years, and that steady investment continues to shape the school’s culture.

Howard defines kindness as caring, uplifting others, treating people, including yourself, with respect, being polite, understanding boundaries, helping others, and being the best version of yourself. Lessons like Letting Go of Anger and Using Social Media for Good support those goals by helping students manage frustration and make wiser choices in spaces where so many relationships now unfold.

Mrs. Thurman and Mrs. Burner have helped make kindness visible across the school through service. The student council led a donation drive that gathered 1,080 pounds of food, enough to provide 908 meals for families in the community. The athletic department led a shoe drive that collected more than 500 pairs of shoes. Students also contribute to a Kindness Wall, where they write what kindness means to them or name a kindness someone has shown them.

Staff recognition is part of the culture, too. Teachers are celebrated for kindness, alongside honors like teacher of the month and teacher of the year. That matters in a middle school, where students are always watching the adults around them.

At Howard Middle School, kindness is not just a concept we teach—it is a standard we live through our PACK expectations. Students are reminded daily to Portray a Positive Attitude, Accept Responsibility, Choose to be Respectful, and Keep Learning First. These principles give our students a clear, consistent framework for how to treat others and themselves, both inside and outside the classroom. By following the PACK, students are not only practicing kindness but also building the character and habits necessary to lead with integrity and purpose. This alignment between kindness and expectations ensures that our culture is not left to chance—it is intentionally developed, reinforced, and celebrated each day.

At Howard Middle School, the Kind School recognition reflects a community choosing, again and again, to return to the basics of how people deserve to be treated.