Center Township Elementary sees importance in kindness
CENTER TWP — Inspired by Mr. Rogers’ message of compassion toward one another, Center Township Elementary School hosted an event Thursday, May 22, to celebrate kindness.
Crowds of kindergarten- through fifth-grade students and their parents gathered at the “143 Family Kindness Fest,” dedicated to celebrating the importance of love, compassion and the difference small acts of kindness make in the community.
The event was put on by the school in partnership with Remake Learning Days, a group that promotes collaborative, hands-on learning.
The number 143 is associated with Mr. Rogers, which is supposed to represent the message “I love you.”
“This is just a way to promote kindness in all sorts of different ways,” Cathy Graham, a teacher at the school, said.
The day aimed to promote seven types of kindness: compassion, generosity, gratitude, inclusiveness, integrity, respect and self-care.
The event featured a range of activities promoting its goal. A “kindness community” was set up in the library to highlight presentations of recent work the students have done.
Principal Tanya Lewis said students have helped planting flowers for a nursing home. Before today, the school had students go out into the community and do a display of kindness. One student made cards for a bunch of the nurses at Butler Memorial Hospital, Lewis said.
The event also featured a talent show where students could use their voices to promote positive messages to one another.
“For the talent show, what they did was come up with different ways to express kindness to others, and through different means, such as music,” Graham said.
The gymnasium had groups such as the Center for Community Resources and the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts showing ways they impact the community. While families could gather at the Kona Ice truck and catch up, students and parents could partake in other activities like yoga, which was part of the event to promote self-care.
“Everything we have established tonight is some sort of giving back or kindness, weather it be the self-kindness, like yoga, or different types of kindness we are featuring, like community-related things,” Lewis said.
Lewis said helping students recognize the different types of kindness and spreading positivity is an important mission of the school.
“The whole purpose of the event is to give back to the community,” Lewis said. “To show kindness in an abundance of ways.”
