Random act of kindness wall in Mrs. Midkiffs room.
Random act of kindness wall in Mrs. Midkiff’s room.
Kaitlyn Barrington

Act of kindness

English teacher Marianne Midkiff assigned a random act of kindness to both her freshman and sophomore classes. This is the first of many acts of kindness this year for her classes, as she will have her students do two acts each six weeks in the hope that they learn how to be more selfless.

“We see so much bullying and things that aren’t positive,” Midkiff said. “I wanted to teach the kids some positive things and teach them how easy it is to be kind and show the that it isn’t a chore to be nice.”

Students could either choose a random act of kindness that their teacher had or come up with their own. The point of this project is to bring awareness to how selfish people actually are and this is what Midkiff wants her students to realize.

“All of us have been a little self centered and I want us as humans to get away from that,” Midkiff said. “I think the world needs more kindness and it has to start somewhere so I thought that we could start here.”

Since this may be new for some students to do something kind for someone else instead of for themselves, it is a work in progress. As the year goes on, students are expected to become more comfortable with the project.

“As we get better at doing this, I hope that we will be able to do something big as a class,” Midkiff said. “I want more of acting as a team on these things instead of being all separate.”

The vision for this project is to bring the students out of their comfort zone. Midkiff’s hopes are for the students to realize how much the staff in school does for them.

“I made brownies for the ladies at the front office,” freshman Marrissa Huerta said. “This has shown me how to say thank you but in a more appreciative way.”

In doing this project, students have learned that doing a warmhearted act is easy and can sometimes pays off. One student really came out of her comfort zone to make someone’s day.

“I’m a very shy person and I have never done anything like this before,” Huerta said.  “The front office gave me a thank you card with all of their names on it and even though they didn’t have to do that, it made my day.”

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    Bailey SpencerSep 29, 2016 at 4:30 pm

    I am delighted to hear about this. It seems like nowadays people shun away from this harsh reality that we are all a little selfish. For a teacher to bring this into the light is really inspiring. Also, I love the way that your transitions flow into your quote! Keep up the good work!

    Reply
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    Claudia MooreSep 29, 2016 at 2:44 pm

    This was such a great idea, and I hope it does inspire lots of people. I love to read about things that make our school a better place. Also in paragraph nine, I think that “pays” should be “pay.”

    Reply
  • A

    Alanna KologeySep 29, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    This teacher is genius! I hope this inspires many students.

    Reply
  • C

    Cally BrowningSep 29, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    This was a great story. Tyler does something similar for only a week.

    Reply
  • C

    Colleen StarkeySep 28, 2016 at 1:58 pm

    Thank you for reporting on this. There are so few people who do kind things for other people. I’m glad this is happening at our school.

    Reply
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    Andie WilloughbySep 28, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    I really like how this was reported on this. A bunch of my friends told me about doing this but I never really paid much attention to the issue. I now understand the teacher’s reasoning and it’s really sweet.

    Reply
  • S

    Sarah CarterSep 28, 2016 at 1:29 pm

    I loved getting to read this article. It was something interesting to hear about. I didn’t know this was happening and I’m glad I was able to read about it. I love how you had multiple quotes from the teacher and the student’s quotes at the end.

    Reply