Throughout classrooms at St. Leo the Great School in Fairfax, students shared messages and acts of kindness to celebrate Virginia Kindness Week, Feb. 12-18. While faculty encourage their students to be kind every day, Kindness Week emphasizes the importance of kindness and small acts of thoughtfulness to make schools healthier and safer places to learn.
“Teaching and recognizing kindness helps to nurture a safe and positive learning environment,” said Beth Kappes, school nurse, who organized Kindness Week with school counselor, Lindsay Sterling. “Kindness really does make a difference in a person’s physical and emotional health.”
During the week, students participated in different activities to foster kindness. After discussing the topic of kindness in art class, students wrote a kind word, phrase or prayer on a leaf. These leaves contributed to a community Kindness Tree created by Maia Cerezo, a St. Leo graduate and current junior at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington. On another day, special guest readers, Instructional Assistant Zach Fowler and Art Assistant Morgan Howard, both graduates of St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, read books about kindness to students in the lower grades. Later in the week, students dressed in bright, sparkly clothes to let their “kindness shine.”
“Kindness Week gave our students a chance to show their kind hearts toward others and use their creativity,” said Sterling. “Showing kindness is important for students’ social and emotional health. It is exciting to see students exemplify this.”
