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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Students Ariel Grischob and Gabi Rondon, members of the Kindness Club, posed with their finished sticky notes.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Student members of the Kindness Club, from left, Nicholas McGoogan, Anastasios Efthimiou, Ella Gaffney, Gia Len, Francesca Rubesa and Bella Beight walked through Poland Middle School posting sticky notes on all of the lockers.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Bella Beight, a member of the Kindness Club at Poland Middle School, posted sticky notes on the lockers of the school.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Student members of the Kindness Club wrote positive messages on sticky notes on Oct. 29 to celebrate Red Ribbon Week at Poland Middle School.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.One sticky note students posted on the lockers at Poland Middle School for Red Ribbon Week.
By JESSICA HARKER
Poland Middle School’s Kindness Club celebrated Red Ribbon week by posting positive sticky notes on the lockers at school.
“The students are really expanding this idea of positivity and avoiding bullying through the club,” said Kristi Martin, one of the advisors to the club.
Mary Jo Rowan, a school counselor who is also an advisor of the club, said that she worked throughout the week with students to address the anti bullying agenda of Red Ribbon week.
“We talked a lot about how sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt me, and how words are often actually the things that stick with you the longest,” Rowan said.
She said that to celebrate the week students in third- through eighth-grade created a Be the Change tree that hangs in the school’s hallway.
“We talked a lot about choices, and avoiding drugs and being kind to one another,” Rowan said. “Remembering that someone is a human being and just being kind.”
One hundred and five students are part of the Kindness Club at Poland Middle School, and all students volunteered for the clubs monthly project.
Martin said this is the fourth year the club has chosen to do this project during Red Ribbon week, writing 450 positive messages on sticky notes to place on all of the schools lockers.
“Its just a great way to spread positivity throughout the school, and really spread the theme of the week which is kindness,” Martin said.
She said that members of the kindness club are leaders within the school, and hold themselves to a higher standard of kindness.
“They know they are members of the club so they are thinking more about the things they say and do with one another,” Martin said.
The club has a number of projects they work on throughout the year, including creating knot blankets, creating Thanksgiving cards for those who are home-bound and passing out holiday cards in nursing homes.
Rowan said that the club is run entirely through donations, and that they rely on support from the community to continue to do good work throughout the community.
Kindness club is always looking for donations of supplies for their projects.
For more information about what the club needs or to donate, contact Rowan at mrowan@polandschools.org or 330-757-7003, ext. 6.