LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Students at Kennedy Montessori Elementary are coming together to make their school a happier place.
Just before the pandemic, teacher Stefany Bibb started the "Kindness Crew," a group of students who come in early on Mondays to greet students and teachers.
Bibb said it's a way to help everyone start of the day on the right foot.
“It’s not just in the morning and it’s not just on Mondays. It’s all the time," she said. “It makes my heart happy to see my kids flourish and then doing what they naturally do, being kind.”
The students hold posters and share welcoming affirmations like "you're amazing," and "be kind."
Bibb said the positive attitude carries over into the classroom environment.
“When they’re in class and maybe there’s a concept they’re struggling with, they already have that mindset, that positive growth mindset," she said.
During NTI, students even helped keep the club going online and in their communities.
“During COVID it was small things, it wasn’t the big things," Bibb said. "We couldn’t do in person, but just sending little notes, even in their Google Classroom, they managed to do it. And at home and in their community they did positive things.”
Bibb said she's received letters and care packages from schools in other states, reaffirming the mission the crew is trying to accomplish.
“It matters to show them that what they’re doing matters. They think it’s small, that it’s just here, but there are people in other states taking notice," she said.
Students too, told WHAS11 they love the club. They said spreading kindness to others makes them happy and feel like they have a role to play.
“It shows adults that we can be responsible and we can actually have something we can do for once," fourth-grader Kailani Nelson said.
Some of the students said they weren't going to be at Kennedy next year, but still wanted to find ways to be kind.
“I might even try to get the principal and the teachers to make a Kindness Crew like this school did so it can keep going on and on," fifth-grader Dominic Flynn said.
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