PHOTO GALLERY: Students Across Kern Show up for Great Kindness Challenge

Students, teachers, and school districts all over the county are showing us what it means to be kind. This week is the Great Kindness Challenge (GKC), a worldwide movement that takes place at the end of January each year and encourages everyone to embrace kindness.

From morning greetings in a balloon arch tunnel, to sidewalk chalk art, to friendship bracelets, students found ways to spread positivity and cheer throughout campus.

The Great Kindness Challenge started as a bullying prevention campaign under the idea that all kids deserve to learn in a safe, supportive, and caring environment. The GKC program says its goal is to foster a compassionate and accepting school climate, as well as increasing student engagement and attendance. More than 20 million students across more than 41,000 schools participated in the worldwide challenge last year.

At Redwood Elementary School in Shafter, school administrators, city officials, and community members volunteered to greet students as they came to school Monday morning. They set up a balloon arch Welcome Tunnel, played music, and cheered on all the students as they entered the gates. School leaders said they wanted to show the kids that they believe in them.

Redwood students also used coffee to spread cheer throughout the community. Young artists decorated cardboard coffee sleeves with messages of kindness and love and gave them to Tin Cup Coffee in Shafter to hand out to their customers.

Redwood Elementary School.

Kern Avenue Elementary in McFarland held a spirit week. Each day the school encouraged students to dress up according to a different theme revolving around kindness. The school also hosted activities such as a kindness chain, a letter of kindness, and an arts and crafts session.  Kern students also got together to send donuts to another school in the district. This year they chose Browning Road STEAM Academy.

Students in Mrs. Claudia Ulloa’s Student Leadership class at Greenfield Middle School made friendship bracelets and handed them out to each other. They also created posters to put up around campus, and made thank you cards for their teachers.

At Rio Bravo Greeley Elementary School, one third-grade class used sidewalk chalk to decorate the school with messages of love and happiness, including notes like “every step you take you spread a bit of kindness,” and “I believe in you.” The rest of the school created a Kindness Tree in the school cafeteria and a Kindness Chain with each link containing kind messages which were read during the morning announcements.

Rio Bravo Greeley Elementary School.

Students from Dolores Whitley TK-8 school in the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District (PBVUSD) set up kindness stations throughout the school where students could make encouraging and thoughtful cards for each other or their loved ones.

They also passed out stickers to their peers. One student wrote a heartfelt message to his mom. A PBVUSD official said The Great Kindness Challenge always inspires the best within our students.

Congratulations to all schools throughout our area and thank you for spreading kindness to our community.

Great Kindness Challenge Photos:

Rio Bravo Greeley Elementary School.

Redwood Elementary School.

Greenfield Middle School.

Dolores Whitley TK-8 school.