Promoting Kindness & Compassion
By Jill Pate - FF/S
Darlington School is committed to promoting kindness and compassion so our schools remain safe places to learn and live. To that end, we have embraced a program titled “Rachel’s Challenge.”
Rachel Scott was the first victim in the Columbine High School shooting. Her father and over twenty other certified presenters travel all over the nation delivering the message of kindness and compassion, two traits that characterized Rachel Scott.
We believe that social and emotional skills, as well as academic skills begin in elementary school and we are excited to present “Rachel’s Challenge” to all of our students at Darlington. Our Lower School presentation will not focus or discuss the nature of Rachel Scott’s death, but focus on how she lived her life and the challenges she set forth for us all:
Influence: the power of both positive and negative
Goal setting: the importance of dreaming big
Journaling: the powerful impact of writing down goals, thoughts, emotions, and dreams
Acceptance: understanding, respect, compassion for others
Kindness: simple, deliberate acts of kindness
Your children will be encouraged to initiate acts of kindness and acknowledge receiving acts of kindness. Paper links to the Chain of Kindness will be added in each classroom. On Nov. 11, 2011, the Lower School, Middle School and Upper School will join all their Chains of Kindness together and student representatives will take the chain to the Georgia Dome to participate in a greater Atlanta area celebration of “Rachel’s Challenge,” sponsored by 11Alive News.
It is our hope that this will establish a standard in how our students choose to treat each other as they prepare for the Middle School and Upper School. Please encourage your children show kindness and compassion toward others, especially to new students or those who may be experiencing difficulty at school, or who may seem isolated or excluded. This was the wish of Rachel Scott.
