Holiday music was booming in Room 104 at Green Run High School on November 22. Ninth graders in Kelly Echols’ Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) class didn’t mind, though.

“It’s a little too soon for Christmas music,” Zavion Brebaru chuckled. “But I’m getting into the spirit.”

He and about a dozen classmates were hunched over round tables, drawing with markers. Spread across other tables were colorful Starbucks cup sleeves with tiny, inspirational messages written on them.

“AVID is celebrating 20 years,” explained Echols. She belongs to an online group of AVID educators nationwide. “We wanted to share ideas about how to put a little goodness back into the community.”

She created the Kindness Coffee Cups project, and not only were the AVID students on board, but other Green Run High School and Green Run Collegiate classmates also joined in.

Echols teamed up with Starbucks stores on Holland Road, in Red Mill Shopping Center and at the Target on Independence Blvd., which delivered boxes of blank sleeves for the students to decorate and return for customers at those locations.

“When you grab a cup of coffee, tea or any kind of drink at Starbucks,” Echols promised, “you’ll see the spirit that embodies AVID, Green Run High School and our amazing students across the division.”

Rebekah Shinn was planning on using quotes from Jane Austen and J.K. Rowling on her sleeve decorations.

“If someone is having a really bad day,” she said, “I hope it makes them happy and gives them hope.”

Tamia Jones just finished writing “#youarebeautiful” on a sleeve. “I want my messages to be positive,” she smiled, “so people know that they are people people, because everyone is people.”