{"id":11811,"date":"2024-02-06T16:42:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T21:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=11811"},"modified":"2024-02-07T13:51:48","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T18:51:48","slug":"clubs-cause-kindness-to-ripple-throughout-schools-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/clubs-cause-kindness-to-ripple-throughout-schools-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Clubs cause kindness to ripple throughout schools, community"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The \u201cFins Up for Kindness\u201d mural is filled with kind messages from students and staff and is on display in the Salem Middle School hallway, thanks to the school\u2019s Kindness Club. From left: Sponsor Jennifer Mazur, and club members Patryk Nartowicz, Eva Dixon, Scarlett Roper-Turner, Makenna Beldon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Salem Middle School Kindness Club asked students and staff for messages of kindness. They spent the first meeting of the year placing them on a \u201cFins Up for Kindness\u201d mural in the school hallway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Cindy Butler Focke<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Kindness is afloat at Salem Middle School. Written examples of good will are displayed on a giant wave mural in the school hallway, thanks to the Kindness Club.<\/p>\n

The theme, \u201cFins Up for Kindness,\u201d is an homage to the school\u2019s shark mascot.<\/p>\n

One student wrote about picking up a classmate\u2019s dropped binder, while another helped a friend with homework. Some complimented kind friends and family members.<\/p>\n

The club distributed paper shark fins to staff and students before Winter Break. They asked for notes about kind acts witnessed at school, something done for others, a kind person in their life, or how kindness affects school culture. More than 200 responded.<\/p>\n

Kindness Club members attached the messages to the eye-catching wave display during the first meeting of 2024.<\/p>\n

Art teacher Jennifer Mazur helped start the school\u2019s Kindness Club about seven years ago and is a sponsor with English teacher Kimberly Williams and school counselor Molly Koch.<\/p>\n

The club aligns with the school mission statement and motto, which includes helping each student develop into a successful, ethical and contributing member of society. The group supports ethical choices and is committed to kindness as a central character trait, Mazur said.<\/p>\n

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Kindness Club member Nadia Middlebrooks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMembers are kindness ambassadors,\u201d she added. They work together to spread and show kindness at school and home and build a positive atmosphere within their school community.<\/p>\n

Seventh-grader Patryk Nartowicz explained why he joined the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to make people\u2019s day and make new friends,\u201d he said. \u201cIt feels great to see another person happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each monthly meeting kicks off before school with members writing an \u201cI hope you have a happy day\u201d message for someone else. Patryk said his teacher smiled when he presented her with a note of gratitude. Member Makenna Beldon said she wrote to her social studies teacher because he\u2019s nice, helpful and caring.<\/p>\n

The club hid kind notes in library books and celebrated World Kindness Day in November by chalking the school sidewalk with positive messages. They sponsored a spirit week and encouraged students to spread kindness in a variety of ways, such as \u201csmile at everyone you walk by\u201d and \u201cintroduce yourself to two new people a day.\u201d They plan to use paint markers to draw kind heart-themed messages on windows in the school foyer for February.<\/p>\n

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The Larkspur Middle School Kindness Club painted kindness rocks, which are displayed near the school entrance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other Virginia Beach City Public Schools have implemented Kindness Clubs, including Larkspur Middle. They meet every other Tuesday to brainstorm ideas on how to promote kindness at school.\u00a0 Their hand-painted kindness rocks are displayed near the school entrance, and they\u2019ve also created kindness posters. Handwritten messages on sticky notes were also placed randomly throughout school.<\/p>\n

Kindergarten teacher Anne-Marie DuPont helps lead the Kindness Club of more than 30 second through fifth graders at White Oaks Elementary School. They wrote notes and drew pictures for local veterans for Veterans Day and created a kindness construction paper chain displayed at school during the holidays. They also plan to make Valentine\u2019s Day cards for a local nursing home.<\/p>\n

Salem Middle seventh-grader Eva Dixon said the club has helped her recognize when people are unkind to one another. \u201cSometimes I step up to moderate with friends,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSchool could be a better place if everyone was kind to each other,\u201d Eva said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t take much to make someone else\u2019s day.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Kindness Club at Salem Middle inspires others with colorful phrases on the windows throughout the front hall. Picture, from left, are eighth grader Nadia Middlebrooks, Jennifer Mazur (club sponsor), sixth grader Makenna Beldon, Molly Koch (club sponsor), sixth grader Scarlett Roper-Turner and seventh grader Patryk Nartowicz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Kindness Club member Patryk Nartowicz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The \u201cFins Up for Kindness\u201d mural is filled with kind messages from students and staff and is on display in the Salem Middle School hallway, thanks to the school\u2019s Kindness Club.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Each Salem Middle School Kindness Club meeting begins with members writing kind notes for others.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cindy Butler Focke Kindness is afloat at Salem Middle School. Written examples of good will are displayed on a giant wave mural in the school hallway, thanks to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11811"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11839,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11811\/revisions\/11839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}