Harding Middle School students spreading a little kindness

STEUBENVILLE — Harding Middle School students were spreading a little kindness in observance of World Kindness Day and created hundreds of cheerful e-cards for elementary schools.

Pupils in the grades 5-8 classrooms spent homeroom time on Nov. 14 celebrating the occasion–which actually was one day prior–and made messages which would be sent to Pugliese West, Garfield East, McKinley STEM Academy and Wells Academy. Kindness also was the theme of their monthly Overcoming Obstacles program, which often touches upon issues impacting youth today. School social worker Shay Greiner said more world themes will be incorporated into monthly programs in an attempt to build esteem, share inspirational messages and simply have fun.

“We do Overcoming Obstacles with topics based on the sound of our building,” she explained. “This year, we took a little different approach and looked up different days on the calendar.”

She said curriculum coaches Tiffany Pierro and Gina Arlesic helped plan Unity Day in October while December will focus on National Twin Day, where students and staff are invited to dress alike. National Popcorn Day is on Jan. 19 and will center on relaxation, motivation and self-care while Feb. 18 will be Random Acts of Kindness Day, which is similar to the recent event but will include sales of candygrams.

“You never get enough of kindness and diversity,” Greiner added.

The year will continue with Absolutely Incredible Kid Day on March 16 and Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive Day in May, which will include a collection to give back to the community.

For World Kindness Day, teachers provided video presentations for their homeroom classes and students were then divided into groups to create their inspirational messages with the Google Slides program on their computers. Their creations were sent to Greiner, who then printed them out and sent them to the elementary buildings for faculty, staff and students to enjoy.

In eighth-grade math teacher Melissa Bowers’ class, students learned that being kind can go a long way and could inspire others to pay it forward. Bowers also stressed the value of good character.

“The world has changed a lot, but I was always taught to be kind to others,” she said. “It is knowing that everyone has a right to be treated with kindness and respect, and acceptance is understanding that we are all different but we are all people.”

Other lessons ranged from avoiding hate speech to knowing that no one should be discriminated against for their age, race or status. Bowers said kindness could also create a domino effect.

“No kind act or gesture is too small and it can encourage others to model the same behavior.”

Several of her students also described what kindness meant to them.

“Being kind, to me, opens the door to others to pay it forward,” said Amsley Malcom.

“I think kindness is one of the most important qualities,” added Jolee Lombardo.

“Kindness is something you can be spreading and need to be more of in the world,” said Andrew Matzorkis.

“Kindness is being the best person you can be, and being nice to people in general,” said Noah Koniski.

“When we’re all kind, it makes the world a better place,” concluded Noah Kokiko. “They may not remember who you are, but they’ll remember the way you made them feel.”

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