Students, staff and parents have come together this year at Westwood Intermediate and Middle School to focus on kindness. It’s making a difference for school community.

Last spring, Westwood staff had been talking about ways to build a stronger community across the school. As this school year began, their desires intersected with new thinking from the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and some fired up student leadership. They all came together – for kindness.

"Our staff felt like we had opportunities to invest differently in our school community," says Tom Larson, Westwood principal. “What emerged for staff was a desire to focus on kindness. One conversation led to another. Staff planned classroom activities and school-wide engagement to start the year. It snowballed from there.”

Fall fundraising and acts of service

At the same time as classrooms were engaged in a variety of kindness activities to start the year, the PTO began discussing their fall fundraiser. They had traditionally sold products and were looking to make a change. They came together on the kindness idea with a tie-in to their fall fundraiser. At the center of their motivation was the simple acknowledgement that middle school can be a hard time for many students. Kicking off the year with acts of kindness and hope could impact the whole year - at school, at home, and in friendships for all students and staff and their families. 

Each student was encouraged to do at least three acts of kindness, and the PTO provided opportunities. There was a door decorating challenge, a classroom project, daily kindness week ideas and a family kindness night.

Students asked people to sponsor them for doing good deeds. As students submitted their acts of kindness for the fundraiser, a piece of kindness confetti was added to a mural in the main hallway and money was added to the PTO account. It was a fun, visual way to show momentum and progress – all focused on doing good things in the community. As students stopped by to read the notes and find their own, a kindness buzz was building. The fundraiser came to end, but not the emphasis on kindness.

"We do this [kindness] because of who we are as people," says Tom. "This is something we don't just want to do for a month and stop. We wanted to keep it going."

The PTO had always done a fall family night and wanted to refocus that time on service. Almost 200 people attended the kindness night. Students and families made placemats for Meals on Wheels. They made cards for a children's hospital, first responders and military service members. They crafted fleece blankets, collected used bikes, and donated locks of hair. In two hours, there were 550+ acts of kindness.

"It was great to see many families come together and provide kindness for the community," says parent Andrea Hansen who helped organize the event. "I hope it encouraged them to continue to make choices to reflect kindness to others and that it carries on throughout the year."

Jaclyn Doffin, PTO vice president, appreciated seeing how the activities at Westwood where appearing out in the community. Kristin Madsen, secretary, could see how the administration and teachers worked together to keep things cohesive.

"Seeing staff, students and their families all come together to work on things that make a difference in our broader community was really special,” says Tom.

Student leaders with purpose

The kindness theme generated excitement and purpose for students in Junior Panther Mentors. Their advisors have worked with them all year to keep the kindness theme flowing. Counselors Heather Krier and Stephanie Drow advise the 7^th and 8^th grade mentors. They coordinate with Marge Zobitz and Tyler Schwochau who advise the 5^th and 6^th grade mentors. Together, they’ve worked to identify themes and engage students in bringing them to life throughout the year.

November brought the gratitude trees. Each week, each student in the building received a new, blank paper leaf to write and post their words of gratitude to the tree. Thankful notes found their way to bus drivers, kitchen staff and helpful peers and adults. The leaves grew beautiful fall trees on the intermediate side of the building and on the middle school side of the building.

It was powerful to have such huge visuals on the walls. During lunch, kids were seen examining the tree and reading the leaves. Making sure the people who were named got their leaves was part of the magic.

"There were so many leaves. It was really cool,” says Heather. “I gave one leaf to a kitchen staff member for whom a student had written a special note – she just melted. We sent a whole packet of leaves over to the bus company. Everything about it emphasized that it takes all of us to make this a strong, positive community.”

The trees evolved. After the gratitude leaves came snowflakes for acts of service, then hearts for “Love is. . .”  

“Students go and look,” says Marge. “And when parents are in the building, students want to show them the wall – point out theirs.”

Because students walk by the wall several times a day, it is a constant reminder of community.

Sometimes, people just need a little bit of kindness. Maybe they've had a bad day. As they walk to lunch or go outside, maybe it just makes them feel better. Elizabeth, 6th grade Junior Panther Mentor

Tyler agrees. Having these positive words from peers right in front of you every day makes a difference.

“It’s a good reminder for the kids that even when they are having a bad day, they can walk past that visual representation of that goodness and find their own thing,” she says. “It's nice to see a reminder of goodness.”

The impact

Staff have appreciated how the theme has brought everyone together in a different way. It feels like it is helping create a stronger school community.

"I think a lot of things have come out of it,” says Tom. “One of the biggest things I see is in general, the gratitude kids have toward each other. They are really nice to each other. Especially at the beginning of the school year, you could feel a difference with the kids. They had ownership and responsibility toward our culture. They are part of it."

Heather has watched as kids pick up leaves that have fallen to the floor and put them back on the wall. That kind of ownership for the space feels different. Stephanie, who is new to the school this year, has noticed how students support each other.

“I see a pattern of kids looking out for each other,” she says. The wall art also stands out. “There is a constant representation of student work in our building - you see evidence of the year – and kids see their work and themselves all over.”

What’s next

The kindness themes will continue next year. In the meantime, the Junior Panther Mentors have end-of-year plans to create and big ideas. The wall is about to morph again – into a sunny landscape. On a Thursday morning in March, the 5^th and 6^th graders are talking about a photo – inspiration - on the screen in front of them. There is a bright sun. There are flowers. There is a lot of green.

They discuss what it means to “let your light shine.” They talk about being yourself, expressing who you are. They make a connection to the light they can shine – like kind words, love, acts of service – and how that makes good things grow.

“When respect shines down, community grows,” says Marge, as she connects the dots. Heads nod. Hands shoot up with more examples. With kindness, friendship grows. With acts of service, trust grows.

"This effort has built language around our community and kids are talking about it," says Tom.

This spring wall will be the biggest effort yet. The kids are pumped – almost as excited as they are to introduce Westwood to the fourth graders who will come to visit in May.

After the meeting, walking down the hallway, gratitude jars catch the eye in front of each classroom. They include messages from students about what makes them proud at school. Among the everyday bits of their daily thanks are these - “I am proud of the community.” And, “Being kind.”