Every morning two smiling faces await students as they enter the front doors of Memorial Elementary School in Valparaiso. Another two smiling faces offer a compliment, a helping hand, or a joke outside the library. Still other students rush off to their classrooms and get their morning requirements done quickly so that they can help kindergarten and first grade students shed their winter gear and get ready to begin the day.
These students are one small part of a kindness crusade taking place at Memorial Elementary. Fourth and Fifth grade students have the opportunity to take part in a group whose sole focus is to make the world around them brighter. Molding the principles of the Valparaiso Community Schools initiative Team Lead with the basic need for human kindness, Memorial Team Lead Kindness Keepers are on a mission. It is a mission to reach out with kindness and compassion to all students on campus. Members are charged with the task of being outstanding role models to demonstrate the behaviors of positive leadership, friendship, compassion, and kindness at all times.
In the month of February, Kindness Keepers challenged Memorial’s staff and student body to take up a Kindness Crusade. Random Acts of Kindness were recorded on a “graffiti wall” posted in the main hallway and on a school website that has been set up to give a nod to all kind deeds committed both at school and at home. This month the Kindness Keepers have started circulating Smile Cards. These are yellow cards that say "smile, you've just been tagged." On the back of the card there are directions to pass on the card to someone else to brighten their day. The idea is to keep the cards moving.
In the spirit of making the world a better place, won’t you participate too? Memorial Elementary is challenging YOU to a month of kindness.
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” - Aesop.