Students at Bardstown Elementary School are participating in a Kindness Project. The Kindness Project, organized by BCS School Psychologists, is a school-wide letter writing campaign. Through the project every third through fifth grade student gets the opportunity to write a letter to lift up the spirit of a classmate. Every Friday a few students from each class head to the media center. Once there they select a classmate to write a personal letter to and pick out a friendship bracelet to include with their note.
The Kindness Project kicked off in August as a way to make people smile and bring people back together after COVID.
“Seeing how kids were struggling to come back into school we felt that kids needed to see something positive each week,” said Megan Andrew, school psychologist at Bardstown City Schools.
Letters are delivered through the campus mail system every Monday. Students are surprised when they walk into their classroom and see a letter addressed to them on their desk. So far 245 students have given a letter and 245 have received a letter.
Andrew says the best thing about the letter writing campaign is how sincere students are with their letters.
“They are very thoughtful, excited and want to know when their friends will receive them,” said Andrew.
Students aren’t just paying attention to who has received a letter and who hasn’t. The Kindness Project is making them think about what they like about that individual. Andrew has witnessed students write letters that compliment a classmate on how great they are at math to even expressing gratitude for playing on the playground.
The Kindness Project will conclude for the school year at Bardstown Elementary in late January. The school psychologist team has plans to expand the program to Bardstown Middle School in the spring. The project will modify some to best fit the needs and interests of older students.
