Kindness as Something Students Do

At Taylor County Middle School in Campbellsville, Kentucky, adults will tell you the goal is simple: kindness is an action. The school serves around 610 students in grades six through eight, and the team doing this work — school counselors Kristy Parkey and Amy Reynolds, youth services coordinator Lesley Newton, and student family advocate Malique Spaulding — has spent the last few years making sure that idea is more than a poster on the wall.  TCMS teachers and support staff play an intricate role in modeling kindness and building trusting relationships. As a result, kindness at Taylor County Middle School is not just an extra, but a daily choice, shaping the feel of the school community.

This is also the school’s definition of kindness. Built from student surveys and synthesized by the Smile Club, the TCMS community defines kindness as an action: this could mean helping someone physically, emotionally, or mentally. It creates a sense of belonging and leads to a chain reaction that spreads through the school and into the community. “I love that they want it to be something we’re doing, not something we’re feeling,” says Mrs. Reynolds.

Structures and routines reflect this definition. Teach Kindness lessons like The Gratitude Muscle and Acts of Kindness run through Cardinal Connections and Cardinal Academy, an enrichment period built into every student’s schedule.  Mrs. Parkey explained that, “Focusing on actionable kindness instead of just anti-bullying rules empowers students to take ownership of how they are treating themselves and others.”  Mr. Spaulding teaches a separate rotation where students work through specific skills — how to read a situation, how to respond, and some days, how to apologize and mean it.  

Lessons are reinforced outside of the classroom by schoolwide kindness days, week-long kindness initiatives, food drives, lunch table conversation prompts, and a culture of student leadership through groups like Smile Club and student council. Students vote for the kindest student in their grade, and the winners are celebrated for their ongoing leadership in helping create a kind culture.  The school also recognizes students through “Cardinal Caught Being Kind” with cupcakes donated by a local bakery. Mrs. Newton shared that TCMS students have shown that real change begins when students choose to lead. Students have stepped up to create an atmosphere where being kind is the standard. Students have taken ownership of the work. When the Youth Services Center’s snack pack program needed supplies, students organized a food drive. Smile Club has gone from 12 members to 28. Mr. Spaulding noticed students he used to see regularly in the behavior log had stopped showing up there after coming through his class. “Their eyes are opening,” he says, and staff members have been struck by how ready students are to engage. 

At TCMS, students learn that kindness is not passive. It is something they do, and something they can carry with them long after the bell rings. The team’s message to other schools is the same one they give their teachers: this isn’t one more thing. “It’s what we’re already doing,” Reynolds says. “It is the plan.”