What’s a month-long kindness challenge without a heartfelt culminating celebration.
The mood was jubilant in Gena Churchwell’s classroom on Friday afternoon as two special education classes at Glynn Academy’s came together to enjoy the final day of the school’s first participation in the Great Kindness Challenge, an international endeavor aimed at promoting inclusivity and compassion in schools.
The Great Kindness Challenge is presented by the global nonprofit Kids for Peace whose mission has now reached every state in America and 115 countries.
The challenge is meant to foster a kinder school climate through a checklist of intentional kind acts. This year, the checklist was updated with safety and social distancing in mind, and the challenge officially took place between Jan. 25-29.
“Technically it’s this week, but we went ahead and just started it at the beginning of the semester so that we could have a whole month of kindness,” Churchwell said. “You can never have too much kindness.”
Glynn Academy staff members distributed the list of kindness acts, which included sharing a smile, telling a joke, flashing a peace signs, learning to say “hello” in another language and more.
Students in Churchwell’s class, along with students in Cassie Busby’s class and the Terror Buddies who assist and spend time with the special education students at Glynn Academy, also created a book of thanks, titled “I Am Thankful For.” The book included students’ writings and illustrations about what they’re grateful for.
Churchwell shared some of the students’ contributions with the class before she pulled out a bucket full of names of the students at Glynn Academy who participated in the Kindness Challenge.
“There were different acts of kindness they could do, and they had to check off which ones they did,” Churchwell explained. “And they could even send pictures in if they wanted to, to show their acts of kindness.”
Students whose names were drawn in the raffle received prizes as part of the challenge.
Reflecting on the month-long activity, Churchwell said she and other staff members at the school feel confident they’ll bring the challenge back next year.
“We just wanted the kids to see doing a tiny something for someone really makes a difference,” she said.