Elementary school’s new Kindness Crew promotes kindness-based leadership, starting young

This paid piece is sponsored by Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools.

St. Katharine Drexel Elementary sixth grader Claire connected right away with the newest addition at her school.

“I wanted to be in the Kindness Crew because I wanted to show people how to be kind and how to accept other people,” she said.

The new program, started by school counselor Erin Mack, is proving to do just that. Mack’s goal for the program is to go beyond academics.

“We do lessons on bullying and how to be a good friend, but I feel like sometimes we need more than that,” said Mack, who is in her third year at St. Katharine Drexel.

“When you treat people with kindness and respect, it makes you feel good, and it makes the other person feel good, and that absolutely ties into your mental health.”

Mack, who was a mental health counselor before coming into the educational system, brought the Kindness Crew to St. Katharine Drexel Elementary in October. The core committee is comprised of 16 fourth, fifth and sixth graders who plan activities each month to inspire kindness. 

Kindness Crew is a year-round, kindness-based leadership program specifically designed for elementary schools. It stems from an international program, Think Kindness, that was designed to inspire actions that would create kind, lasting habits and create a ripple effect to make the world a better place. The Kindness Crew at St. Katharine Drexel Elementary is doing just that: encouraging kids to be able to actively show kindness with the sole purpose of inspiring acts of kindness throughout the entire student body.  

“Instead of just talking about it, they can live it in their everyday life. Hopefully, it will evolve down into homes and into the community,” Mack said. 

The 16 committee members take pride in their role. Catherine, a sixth grader, wants to help people be better at being kind, while Ava, a fifth grader, recognizes the goal is to encourage treating others with kindness. Each month of the school year has a new theme surrounding kindness. October’s theme was respect. If Kindness Crew committee members caught students being respectful, they gave the students a shout-out over the intercom during morning announcements.

To kick off the program, the committee took two weeks to hide quotes and inspirational messages on golden tickets around the school for students to find. When a ticket was found, the student read the message in class and turned it into the office for a small treat.

“It helped people want to be kind. The quotes got to some people; they’re helping them to be kind,” said Hannah, a fourth grader.

Another activity that helped inspire the students to be kind and to recognize when others are being kind involved the entire school through T-shirt Week. During that week, each day had a theme to represent different aspects of kindness and respect. 

• Monday: Wear a bright color T-shirt. When someone is respectful to us, it makes us feel good and brightens our day. 

• Tuesday: Wear a green shirt to show respect to our environment.

• Wednesday: Wear a T-shirt backward symbolizing how you can’t take back unkind words or actions.

• Thursday: Wear a SUPER big T-shirt to show how much respect our world needs every day and symbolizing that there is room for everyone to be included.

• Friday: Wear a T-shirt that showcases something you love. 

“Kindness can be helpful in our school because it can help others feel welcome and respected,” said Jaide, a fourth grader. “I think it (the T-shirt week) will get people into the mood of being kind.” Even the preschoolers, who also wear a uniform to school, were excited about the T-shirts and were able to connect the fun themes to being kind. 

The students have started asking questions, keeping them engaged and making them aware of their actions and how those actions affect other people. 

“Hopefully, it’s making them more aware of how kindness can affect them in a positive way and other people,” Mack said. Even the younger kids come up and ask her if they can be part of the committee.

The Kindness Crew’s work is expanding beyond St. Katharine Drexel Elementary. 

“If we have a little group and they’re all being kind, then it spreads,” said Brielle, a sixth grader.

These students are taking what they have learned about kindness past the walls of the school and into their homes. They are telling parents about the activities that focus their thoughts on the kindness messages, and they are able to share and spread these acts of kindness to their peers in sports and other activities.

 “You can take back the kindness to your house and be a role model in your neighborhood and to your brothers and sisters,” said Madalyn, a fifth grader.

Mack plans to bring the program to St. Michael Elementary, where she spends the other half of her workday as a counselor, hoping the power behind the students’ kind actions will continue its ripple effect, spreading all over the Sioux Falls community.