We all know Tuesday, February 14, was Valentine's Day, but did you also know that it was also National Kindness Week?Kindness is a hallmark of a James River education. Our students show caring and consideration in many ways, and that’s no accident. Our teachers instill these traits in our students every day. Our students are constantly engaging in acts of kindness through their own initiative and their teachers’ encouragement.
- Our Cardinal Buddies make and exchange Valentine’s cards.
- The Cardinal Buddies will be gathering for a Cocoa Chat next Friday and reading a book together about being kind to others.
- Amber Freeman, our school counselor, teaches lessons specifically about good character in general and kindness in particular.
- The fourth-grade teachers were sharing with me today how excited they are to be engaged in a Kindness Challenge--thinking about and seeking out ways each day to be kind.
- The fourth graders also created birthday boxes for Meals on Wheels so their kindness extends outward in service to the community.
- Three James River alums returned recently to share their high school experiences at Jefferson Forest with the seventh and eighth graders. No one told them they had to; they just did it to help the younger students.
- And then there are the small, everyday occurrences, such as one student helping another take their things to carpool because there’s too much for one to carry.
Kindness is not to be confused with politeness. A person can be polite and still not be kind. Polite is on the surface. Kindness comes from the heart. People who are kind act that way not for any reward or even recognition but because it is the right thing to do. This virtue is one of the things that set our students and our school apart. Kindness is one manifestation of good character (a subject near and dear to our hearts); it delights me that our students and our graduates stand out because they have learned to be kind.
