One School, One Community
At Saint Mark’s Episcopal School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, kindness moves through the whole campus as a shared way of life. The school serves 615 students from Pre-K through eighth grade, and for five years it has been using Teach Kindness resources to help strengthen relationships across age groups. Kindness champion Alia Perr describes the school as a true community, and that feeling is visible in the way students, teachers, and families move through the day together.
The school’s kindness goal is rooted in its core values of respect, responsibility, relationships, integrity, work ethic, and spirituality. Saint Mark’s defines that goal as “Kindness through core values.” That language comes to life through the One School Project, a monthly or near-monthly gathering where middle school and lower school students spend time together reading, playing games, and participating in activities that help them know one another. Younger students light up when they see the older ones, and older students carry the quiet pride of being known and looked up to.
Ms. Perr and her colleagues also support students through the relationship shifts that come with growing up, especially in middle school. Lessons like Asking for Help, Friendship Constitution, and ART of Apology help students as they work through friendship changes, hurt feelings, and the social challenges that can come at this age. Older students are also stepping into leadership through peer mentoring. Eighth-grade girls have begun meeting with younger students to talk through real friendship situations, helping fifth graders feel less alone as their own relationships begin to change.
A strong support team keeps the work grounded. Teachers notice when students seem off. The counselor checks in. The middle school team meets regularly and responds quickly to social shifts as they arise. Visitors notice smiling students, happy staff, and a sense of ease that comes from people knowing one another well.
Ms. Perr says it clearly: “When students learn to act with kindness, they transform not only their relationships but their entire school community. Teach Kindness and the Kind School Designation make that possible.” At Saint Mark’s, that spirit lives in the little ones waving to older buddies, the adults paying close attention to students’ hearts, and a campus learning what it means to belong to one another.
