SIXTH GRADER SPREADS JOY THROUGH # KINDNESS PROJECT
ox Chapel Area FOX CHAPEL AREA SCHOOL NEWS
SIXTH GRADER SPREADS JOY THROUGH # KINDNESS PROJECT
An act of kindness can be like a ray of sunshine . Dorseyville Middle School sixth grader Simon Shiferaw wanted everyone in his school community to experience the joy that an act of random kindness can bring , so he developed his Genius Hour project to make that happen .
Through Simon ’ s efforts , March 21 was designated as # kindness day at DMS . At the beginning of the day , teachers showed a video where Simon explained his plan and urged everyone in the school to perform kind acts for one another . Every student received a # kindness bracelet , and teachers and a few students wore # kindness T-shirts . The rest of the student body wore blue shirts in honor of Simon ’ s # kindness day . Throughout the entire day ( and the next several weeks ), students and staff carried out their own random acts of kindness and a bulletin board near the school counseling office featured suggestions of kind acts . By the end of the day , # rak4simon ( random acts of kindness for Simon ) could be found on both Twitter and Facebook .
Seventh grader Gabby Uku said she loved that Simon was so willing to share his kindness project with
18 Fox Chapel Area the whole school in order to make it a better place . “ It just astounds me . Every day Simon comes to school with a smile on his face and he ’ s one of the sweetest sixth graders that I ever met ! He ’ d do anything for anyone and he ’ s sweet and kind to everybody ,” Gabby said .
Simon even took his kindness project on the road to Hartwood Elementary School ( his former school ), where students enthusiastically received his message and carried out their own kindness initiative .
Dorseyville Middle School counselor Kristin Pollick expressed that she hopes Simon ’ s project carries on . “ I am so proud of Simon ! It grew faster than we ever expected ,” she said . “ We hope everyone keeps passing it on and doing as many random acts of kindness so that Simon ’ s idea keeps spreading .”
Gabby added , “ It was nice to see that Simon ’ s project made an impact on the school .”
As a thank you to all of the DMS students , Simon awarded them with a popcorn treat at the end of March . Then , as a special thank you to Simon , Gabby made a special poster and had many classmates sign it . “ Simon made such an amazing impact on our school and this was the least I could do to show our appreciation ,” she said .
Genius Hour , scheduled on most Fridays at DMS , is a program that enables students to develop and work on independent projects that they are interested in and feel passionate about . Many of the students work on fundraisers and service projects to benefit others .