Westfield Washington Schools launches kindness initiative
WESTFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — Monday is World Kindness Day and one Central Indiana school district is celebrating the day by launching their own kindness initiative.
Westfield Washington teachers and students will be asked to recognize acts of kindness.
The presidents of the district’s PTOs are passing out 20,000 kindness cards. There are 8 different colors, each with something about kindness written on them.
Teachers will get the cards and when they see a student doing something kid, they will give them a card. When that student who just received a card sees a fellow student doing something nice, they’ll pass the card along to them.
Erica Strahm, PTO president for the intermediate and middle school, says district-wide they are focusing on social and emotional learning, so they thought this would be a good way for kids to recognize and spread more kindness.
“This is one way to bring all of the students in our district together. Although, kindness looks different at different age groups, the children in elementary school are dealing with different struggles than what they are in intermediate, middle and high school. We thought that this would be a great way to get everybody involved in one kindness initiative,” Strahm said.
And that includes the entire community of Westfield. Organizers are handing out cards to businesses and community leaders. And they would also like community input on ways they can enhance and continue their kindness initiative.
“The next thing we would hope for this project is to challenge Westfield and the community to help us figure out that answer. This is just a small token that we are challenging you right now before the holidays, but we’re really excited to see the ideas that come back and different things and once you start that idea chain, it just keeps rolling and you offer that to kids, and they come up with some pretty incredible ideas,” said Maple Glen Elementary PTO President Ashley Knott.
Organizers are asking participants to share on social media when they see an act of kindness using #WestfieldKind.