From the classrooms to the school walls, messages of kindness and being kind have been sprinkled all across Robert Frost Elementary as students and staff celebrated World Kindness Day on Friday.
Teachers and staff talked to students about being kind and the school provided all students with shirts featuring the message — “Kindness Hope Peace Unity Love Joy” — as a way to show a united front for all at Robert Frost, school counselor Alisha Porter said.
“We want to show we are all one school and we are all caring for one another,” she said. “Kindness is year-round and not just one day.”
World Kindness Day, which is observed across the world on Nov. 13, promotes the importance of being kind to each other, to yourself, and to the world. The purpose of the day is to help everyone understand that compassion for others is what binds everyone together.
Robert Frost students, teachers and staff weigh in on what kindness means to them:
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Alisha Porter, school counselor: “What it means to be kind is not only to be a nice person to someone but also to be accepting of them and their differences and to be inclusive of everyone and to ensure everyone is respected.”
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Yoon Kim, art teacher: “Kindness means listening to one another, being present in front of each other and being mindful of our feelings and being empathetic to one another.”
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Amy Curran, fourth-grade teacher: “Kindness means to me so many things but when I think of kindness, I think of making somebody smile, doing something nice for them, saying something nice to them and taking them in and giving a smile of mine to them.”
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Katrina Hoover, intervention specialist: “What kindness means to me is building relationships with people and allowing them to flourish based on finding commonalities among one another, being nice and teaching my students to find those commonalities and building relationships with one another.”
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Penny Harrison, kindergarten student: "Not be a bully and to be friends."
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Saumel Al Kamara, first-grade student: "Friendly."
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Taylor Bodkin, second-grade student: "Everyone is nice and cool and the world will be nice."
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Pyper Cole-Santa, third-grade student: "Friendship and family."
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Balqiso Abdullahi, fifth-grade student: "Love, being kind and caring."