Submitted by Sarah Fluckiger
We at Discovery Elementary are so grateful to be back in school! Our focus this year is on kindness and we have seen an abundance of it since returning.
Through hard times and difficult situations we have seen our staff come together to support our students and community. Kindness has played an essential part of this process. We have seen the uncertainty on the faces of students as they entered our building, and we have seen kindness and joy from our staff calm the uncertainty and allow us to have an amazing start to our school year.
We have also seen great kindness from our local community. We thank the countless parents and families who have come in with such gratitude and appreciation. It is because of the kindness shown that we as a staff can remain upbeat and face the challenges that seem to change daily.
We asked our 5th grade students what it means to them to show kindness. As they have often done, our students not only amazed and astounded us, but also humbled us with their sincere responses. Some are so simple, some are not, and some are so very funny, but all help us to remember the need to be kind in our world today.
Here is a small sample of our students' responses:
Kindness begins with me!
Choose kindness.
Always say nice words.
Spread kindness, unlike Darth Vader.
Be the Kindness Hero!
The way I wanted to be thanked or rewarded (for being kind) is just know that people are happy.
Take what you need. Give what you can. Spread kindness.
Always be kind and it will make life better.
The kindness wave … start a ripple … create a wave. It begins with you.
Kindness, it costs nothing but means everything.
Our students also had the opportunity to create a poster with their responses and personal artwork. This is our second year having our students create this artwork specifically for this article. It has quickly become a favorite part of the beginning of the year activities for us and the students. We look forward to it becoming a yearly tradition.
A video of the students' posters can be viewed here:
https://youtu.be/BZvyvAsMUfc.
We want to thank our staff, students, and community for being a part of the kindness that has enveloped Discovery Elementary this year. As stated by Robert Ingersoll, “We rise by lifting others.” It is because of you lifting us that we can in return lift you.
Sarah Fluckiger is the finance secretary at Discovery Elementary School.