In a culture dominated by pressure and anxiety, Highland has introduced a new way to bring kindness and compassion to their students: Kindness Class.
The early prognosis is that kindness is spreading. The class began the semester with just 10 people, but it has quickly grown to 17 students.
This class, organized and run by Mindy Smith and Heather Brown, during 3B is a service-based class that focuses on volunteer opportunities in Highland’s surrounding community. Students get to volunteer at Highland events, nearby elementary and junior high schools, and volunteer-based organizations in Salt Lake City.
This class is meant to showcase and create upstanding and involved students who attend Highland. It also aims to continue developing kindness and compassion in students for their peers as well as themselves.
“The first way to help yourself, your own mental health, is by helping each other,” Smith said. “I really hope they leave the class happier than they started the class.”
To achieve this vison, the coordinators, Smith and Brown, have made a curriculum that supports silent reflecting and active participation.
Each student received a journal that they use throughout the semester. In this journal, they keep track of kindness, gratitude, and self-love goals. They also use this as a reflection space on service projects and thought-provoking books.
This semester the students will be going on many field trips. They will be visiting a refugee center, Tim’s Toys foundation for Kids, Mountain View Elementary, and many others.
These organizations all focus on helping people thrive, whether that be helping refugees integrate into their community or donating diapers to mothers around the world.
On Tuesday, Jan. 22, the students took their first field trip to Saint Vincent Dining Hall, a branch of Catholic Community Services of Utah. They spent their class period helping prepare a warm and inviting place for the homeless.
“We went to the homeless shelter with student senate to help organize clothes and make 300 meals for the homeless,” Highland sophomore A McAffee said.
On top of field trips, the students are always actively doing a service project. This semester, Kindness students will focus on working with other students.
They will work at Highland with the special education program. Through this they will take part in unified sports as well as help out in the classroom.
They will also be spending their time with 4th graders at Mountain View Elementary. Zoom meetings will be scheduled so the high school students can read to the elementary school students. In February, they will make an in-person appearance to throw a Valentine’s party for the class.
Smith’s goal is that these real-life experiences help create empathy in the students where they may have not gained it otherwise. Studies have shown that if you consciously go out of your way to do one kind thing a day it will change you fundamentally and you become happier.
Smith believes that it is extremely important to student’s wellbeing to have positive mental health.
“One of the main reasons I wanted to do this class was because adults in education are worried about kids mental health,” Smith said.
Smith and Brown are not the only ones with concerns and hopes for a positive future. The Samnani Family Foundation believes that kindness is more than just an action, it is a force that can impact people’s lives, communities, and our world. Because of this belief, they decided to launch the One Kind Act a Day initiative in 2022.
This foundation generously donated $4,000 to Highland High School to help get their new class up and running.
Through this class Smith and her students can meet all their goals. They will boost their positive mental health, help out their community, and create a strong team of upstanding students.
“I really wanted to do some good for the school and the community,” McAffee said. “I felt the kindness class would help me achieve that… I want to come back next year.”
