Students in the eighth grade AIG program at Gentry Middle School received a challenge by their teacher, Stephanie Bode, to decide on a service project for the 2021-2022 school year. As a group, the students decided to start a Kindness Project to spread joy throughout community.
The first planned project was to have all eighth grade students at Gentry paint Kindness Rocks to hide in our community. They wanted to make sure that all students in eighth grade participated so that other students might get inspired to spread a little kindness of their own.
During this project, eighth grade teacher Kelly Cave mentioned that they could hide some of their rocks in Megan’s Garden, which is located in the bus circle on campus. Students learned the butterfly garden is dedicated to Megan Davis. A group of students in Kelly Cave’s Social and Emotional Learning group decided they wanted to spread some kindness by fixing up Megan’s Garden for Christmas as a surprise for Megan’s family.
Myla Lowe’s grandfather dropped off some larger pieces of granite. Students decorated them with elaborate Christmas scenes. They placed a Christmas tree, garland, and stocking in the garden. LillyAnne Carson was moved by the details of Megan’s story and did a little research on her own. LillyAnne wrote a personal letter to Mr. and Mrs. Davis to express her desire to continue paying tribute to Megan and her sister Taylor even after she leaves Gentry.
The parents reached out to Kelly Cave after visiting Megan’s Christmas Garden and asked to meet LillyAnne in person. Thanks to Celeste Hawks, the school counselor at Gentry Middle, this emotional and heartwarming meeting took place just before students were released for the holiday break. Mary said, “Y’all gave me the most perfect gift for Christmas.”
Ironically, Myla Lowe was LillyAnne’s partner in this project. When she saw Mary’s post on Facebook, Myla realized Mary had been her bus driver in elementary school. A simple act of kindness has spread joy into the lives beyond the school setting.
Hustle and bustle are commonplace in schools the last few days before any holiday, but this year a special group of young people took time to pay tribute to a family in the community. Mary acknowledged, “I know it is busy right now with exams. We are so appreciative. I am always scared Megan and Taylor will be forgotten, but when something like this happens, it melts my heart knowing they will never be forgotten.”
The second planned kindness project the eighth grade group decided on was to share some love to the staff at Gentry Middle. Students organized and brought in snacks to stock three carts. Then they took one afternoon to go by and have staff members pick their favorites from the snack cart. They even made sure to leave snacks on the buses for the bus drivers.
The AIG group is planning more kindness events for the second half of the school year and are excited to see what ripple effects those projects might have.
“If you happen to find a painted rock out in the community in the next few weeks, may it be a reminder to find some joy and pass it on to make our world a better place to be,” organizers said.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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