Stephen Godbout and Felicia Rutigliano, gathered a group of students to join them for a rather unusual exercise – spreading kindness around the school. They worried that the amount of stress was causing unkind behavior and their interest was to eliminate such stress and create a better environment. They believed this could be done through small and random acts of kindness.

“It started about a year ago and it was a direct result of an article in The Harbinger about how many kids are feeling stressed and anxious, but nobody is talking about it,” Rutigliano said.

The teachers gave the article to their students and asked for opinions on it. Interestingly, each student had a similar response.

“They all had the same general ideas. Yes, there is a lot of stress, nobody talks about it, social media is a problem, and it encourages the problems we have,” Rutigliano said.

As a result of the classroom discussion, the teachers and students agreed to make a plan for change. The students’ plan of action was to incorporate acts of kindness into their school and daily lives. The students began selling t-shirts which promoted kindness and doing good. The T-shirts read “Spread the Kindness” and raised over $300 for the school’s adjustment counselors’ support programs.

After seeing the success of the T-shirt sales, Rutigliano suggested that the students start a club; the club would bring students together multiple times a week to combine ideas on how they could to Spread the Kindness at our school.

“I think it would be great if we could start a Spread The Kindness club,” Rutigliano said.

“Doing kind things without expecting anything in return can make a difference and it does make a difference,” Godbout said.  “There isn’t enough kindness.”

Continuing the practice of doing good, Godbout and Rutigliano gave their students a different exercise. They all were asked to write something nice about each person and at the end of the exercise, each person received their paper back with loads of compliments.

“We asked the students if anyone wanted to talk about how they felt after reading these or if they got a compliment that they wouldn’t have expected,” Godbout said.

Even the shyest student responded that what he or she had read made him feel good.

“I’ll never forget that… just to see his smile,” Godbout said.

Godbout and Rutigliano believe one act of kindness can make a difference. The teachers plan to continue work with students to make the school a less stressful and kinder environment.