Heritage joins the Great Kindness Challenge

by Jill Marie Ogden

Challenges seem to be all the rage with the kids these days. Some are fun, some are questionable, and some are downright dangerous. End of January, Heritage Elementary will participate in a free worldwide program that empowers students to create a culture of kindness. The Great Kindness Challenge, run by the Kids for Peace nonprofit, is designed to have a positive impact on students and community by way of completing a checklist of kind acts.

According to the Great Kindness Challenge website, more than 20,000 schools participated in the movement in 2018, and 10 million students generated more than 500 million acts of kindness.

Heritage introduced the idea to students Jan. 14 with classroom discussion and letters sent home to parents. The Challenge will kick off on Jan. 28 with a school assembly, and it will run through Friday, Feb. 1. Students will receive a checklist of kindness items to complete and turn in at the end of the week for a chance to win a prize.

“We are really excited to be a part of the Great Kindness Challenge,” Principal Sarah Bentley said. “It’s a great opportunity for all of us to set the example for our students that kindness first matters most. It’s our hope that by participating in the nationwide challenge as well as doing some specific, intentional activities for Heritage with regard to kindness, that we will see a very positive impact on our students and our school culture.”

Throughout the course of the program, students will be awarded ribbons in recognition of their kind acts. They will have a chance to make cards for others and dress to match themes of the day, which include team kindness, dream of kindness, round up kindness, peace love and kindness, and Panthers choose kindness.

Bentley said the staff decided to keep the Challenge going, so has added the theme Kindness to its “March is Reading Month.” She thanked librarian Paul Crandall and Stockbridge CADL for conducting a school community read of the book “Wonder” by RJ Palacio during the month.

“We are so grateful to Paul and the library folks for helping us make this happen for our kids,” Bentley said. “We look forward to seeing what happens in the coming months.”

Smith Elementary and the Junior/Senior High School also have plans to take part in the Great Kindness Challenge. The program may be implemented at home as well with a checklist designed specifically for families. For more information, check out thegreatkindnesschallenge.com.