The world can use some extra kindness right now and West Hollywood School is going to deliver! West Hollywood School will participate in the 11th annual Great Kindness Challenge the week of January 24 – 28, 2022 and they enthusiastically invite our entire community to join in and cheer them on.
The Great Kindness Challenge, presented by the global nonprofit Kids for Peace, was launched with three Carlsbad, California schools in 2012 to address bullying and to foster connection, inclusion and compassion.
The annual program has multiplied in enrollment each year, having grown to nearly 17 million students in 33,000 schools, reaching across all 50 states and 115 countries.
Jill McManigal, co-founder and executive director of Kids for Peace, explains, “We are living through a global pandemic which is hugely impacting our families, students, communities and the world. We are truly grateful for all educators who not only ensure safe school environments but are also committed to creating school cultures that promote equity, community, empathy and social-emotional wellness. The Great Kindness Challenge provides educators and students the tools, opportunity and encouragement to actively create a positive, respectful and inclusive school culture for all.”
Schools and students are drawn to the program for its positive and proactive approach to creating kinder school climates through a simple checklist of intentional acts of kindness.
The checklist will be distributed to students at the beginning of The Great Kindness Challenge week.
Students will be encouraged to complete each kind act over the course of the week, as well as take part in additional community-building events and global service projects.
West Hollywood School will amplify the experience by
• Cheer line kick off to welcome students on Monday, Jan 24th
• Video messages from the mayor to encourage students to be kind • Kindness Spirit Week • Paper Chain Kindness Commitments
• Collecting donations for Alexandria House kids
• Kindness poetry/reflection contest based on Maya Angelou’s quote: “Be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud.”
• “Kindness Matters” installation on school fence
While the excitement of The Great Kindness Challenge is enormous, it is the simple acts of kindness that prove to be the biggest hit. Some of the items on the checklist are: wave at 25 people, help your teacher with a needed task, read a book to a younger student and safely sit with a new group of kids at lunch.
Big or small, every act of kindness makes a difference.
https://westhollywood-lausd-ca.schoolloop.com
The children in West Hollywood School appear considerably more mature and aware than many of the residents.
This is wonderful. If everyone were tuned into the simple ways to be kind we’d be living in a different world. If I ran things I’d go to billboard companies to do pro bono billboards reminding people to smile and other ways to be kind, where possibly all it would take would be visible reminders to make a whole different ambiance. Here’s a little video I made about kindness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxfCz4n3lto&t=2s.
Kids shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near West Hollywood.