Virtual Academy Class Spreads Community Kindness

Throughout the month of April, Virtual Academy students had the opportunity to participate in live character-building lessons from TrueSuccess focused on the importance of showing compassion and kindness to others. During the lessons, students discussed how kindness creates a ripple effect and brings joy back to us. As part of the focus on the character traits of compassion and kindness, Ms. McWethy, an elementary Virtual Academy teacher, assigned her students an “action assignment” to complete recently based on the TrueSucess lessons.

The assignment was for each student to perform a random act of kindness for someone they don’t know personally. With COVID-19 restrictions in mind, the class discussed ideas for different ways that they could participate in the action assignment without even leaving their homes to make Battle Creek a better place. By showing kindness to others for a smile, the hope was that each person would pay it forward and show kindness to another person creating the ripple effect to help make the world a better place.

The project was a huge success! Ms. McWethy shared, "I was so proud of my first-grade students. I received many great responses like creating 'get well' and 'thinking of you' cards for nursing homes and hospitals, delivering cards or flowers from gardens to their neighbors, handing out pictures with kind words to people that look like they could use some kind words, and many other ideas."

Many thanks to Ms. McWethy and her students for finding ways to stay engaged and spread some positivity in the community! Check out some of the photos below representing our students' outstanding work.