Project emphasizes inclusion
In 2017, officials with the website Harvard.edu — affiliated with Harvard University—launched the second annual KIND Schools Challenge, where middleand high-school students are invited to submit a project idea of how to foster kindness within their own school communities.
Students at the John Cooper School in The Woodlands applied, and the school was selected as a top 10 finalist out of 190 applications nationwide. The program runs this week, from Feb. 26 through March 2.
In a program that sort of resembles the movie “The Breakfast Club,” minus the Saturday school, John Cooper Students initiated a campaign of “Stamping Out Exclusion.” As part of the project, the students spend time mingling outside of their regular circle of friends and participate in various campus activities throughout the week.
The program, spearheaded by faculty advisor Marivi Mata and student team members Alena Fayaz, Avery Schlichter and Zoe Tait, aims to encourage students to depart from the comfort of people they know and engage with students they know little about.
Mata said the idea began with a simple question: “What needs to be better at Cooper?”
“How can we reach out to these people that we know don’t have friends they can rely on all the time,” Mata said. “Maybe they’re new or they’re shy. Sometimes we need to look beyond our everyday encounters and see who else can we get to know, and maybe that way we’ll learn from each other.”
On the first day of the program, Feb. 26, students showed up to school and were asked to choose a symbol from a list, such as a music note or a lightning bolt, which would then be drawn onto their hand with a Sharpie. The students were encouraged to get to know people who shared the same symbol, Mata explained.
“They didn’t know what this was for,” Mata said. “The challenge was to find others with the same symbol.”
Schlichter said she noticed immediately interactions occurring among those students who are not usually the most vocal and engaging.
“Not only is it supposed (to be) a fun (activity), but there’s also going to be the aspect of conversation,” Schlichter said.
As the week progresses, each day’s agenda is intended to provide more opportunities for students to get to know others outside of their particular social circle. The students will participate in varying activities aimed at social inclusion.
Schlichter said student leaders facilitated discussion among students with questions that are devised to get them to speak to one another. The objective is to get students to form connections and bonds over shared interests, she added.
On one day of the week during “Stamping Out Exclusion,” students will be asked to choose a station that offers their favorite variety of doughnut. Once gathered at the station, the group members will be encouraged to talk with others by asking what movies they like, for example, to initiate a conversation.
The project helps cross barriers, Fayaz said.
“Even though you don’t expect to talk with this person and you haven’t wanted to yet, you really have more in common with them than you think you do,” Fayaz said.
Fayaz also said the program serves to create more opportunities for students to make new friendships and connect to people they never expected to connect to.
“I believe that we humans are more alike than we are different,” she said. “And through this project, people are being given the opportunity to realize this fact.”
As part of the project, at the end of the day students are presented with 10 questions that are intended to prompt reflection on the day, such as “Who did you encounter,” and “What made you reach out to this person?”
Mata said the questions are prompting and engaging but more than that, an invitation to reflect on the experience.
On March 9, students will be solicited for their testimonials about the project, which will include shared experiences during a reflection period that focuses on the entire project.
“I’m hoping that is the biggest ‘A-ha’ moment,” Schlichter said.
An analysis of the project will be submitted to officials at Harvard who will then decide which of the 10 schools will win the project’s grand prize. The date of the announcement has not been disclosed yet.
Fayaz said she hopes to make the project an annual event, noting that a big part of their team conversations were coming up with ways to make people feel like they are included in the community to alleviate a mindset that makes them feel powerless.
“More communities than we think have this issue,” Fayaz said. “We watch the news, and we’ve watched those devastating mass shooting in schools and anywhere, honestly. I think people try to take that power back because they were never given it in the first place. It’s important that our students realize the power of inclusivity and reaching out. You want to savor every moment with your classmates and make sure everyone is included.”