Blue Point second graders, from left are: Evelynjoan Turner, Lillian Malnichuck, Emerson Pepler, Aida Laliberte, and Zella Greene. The students went to each classroom on March 4 to ask their peers to write cards thanking doctors, firefighters, and other Scarborough community members. Catherine Bart/Leader
SCARBOROUGH — A group of second-grade girls at Blue Point School have gone beyond expectations during the school’s Kindness Challenge 2020, asking their peers to get involved, too.
The students, Evelynjoan Turner, Lillian Malnichuck, Emerson Pepler, Aida Laliberte, and Zella Greene, presented their idea on March 4 to have the entire school draw pictures for children at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital, as well as to write cards for Scarborough’s firefighters, police officers, and doctors.
Blue Point second graders present their idea to spread kindness to the entire Scarborough community to a kindergarten class. The students who came up with the idea, are from left, Emerson Pepler, Lillian Malnichuck, Aida Laliberte, Zella Greene and Evelynjoan Turner. They asked each class in the school on March 4 to create cards for firefighters, doctors, patients and police officers. Catherine Bart/Leader
The students went to each class individually to present their idea.
Katherine Litrocapes, Blue Point’s social worker, said that the girls had come up with the idea on their own, as an additional component for this year’s Kindness Challenge, which is a school-wide event focused on spreading positivity and helping others in need.
Students may receive a “kindness ticket” from a teacher or staff member each time they are seen doing a kind deed, like holding open a door, helping a classmate who is struggling, or offering a friend a pencil, said Litrocapes. Kindness Challenge 2020, which is held for three weeks from Feb. 24 to March 13, helps students remember the impact their actions, especially positive ones, have on others.
“There’s so little we can control in life, but you always have control over your kindness, making someone feel good,” said Litrocapes.
The five second graders understand that, she said, and that’s why they’ve chosen to go “above and beyond” this year.
Principal Kelly Mullen-Martin said that the school has been doing the Kindness Challenge for the last three years, and at the end of the three weeks, there’s a school-wide assembly that wraps up the event, recapping the successes and rewarding the school for spreading generosity.
“Kindness is a muscle,” said Litrocapes. “You have to practice it and be mindful.”
While kindness is one of the school’s main focuses all year long, Litrocapes said that there’s a ton of “great” energy down the halls during and after the Kindness Challenge, and students are more mindful about how they treat others.
She and Mullen-Martin said that the students take the good attitude with them as they go into Wentworth School in third grade.
The five second-grade students asked their peers to have the cards and drawings ready by Friday, March 6.
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