And the Stand Up for Justice Educator Award goes to…

By Beth-Ellen Povlow, Developer and Chair of the Stand Up for Justice Educator Award

The 2017 Stand Up for Justice Award was awarded to Rose Gonzalez, a counselor at East Naples Middle School. One paragraph of her application got to me: “It was during elementary school when I started to notice that not everyone was as welcoming as I was. I saw and heard negative comments, gestures and actions toward people who might be considered by the majority to be dissimilar to them. Well, this was difficult for me to comprehend. I realize now that I would take those seemingly different peers under my wing and stand a little taller as I would call each my friend. As (the) years went by, I recognized that I was the advocate for someone without a voice and a protector of their feelings.”

As a guidance counselor at her school, Gonzalez started The Kindness Project to support students in acquiring the skills to understand and incorporate kindness in daily life. She placed signs at the entrances to the school, declaring the campus “A Kindness Zone.” Signs were also placed in classrooms as a point of positive dialogue between teachers and their students, as well as peer to peer. In the cafeteria, a Wall of Kindness served as a display of different expressions of kindness and pledges created by students.

Rose Gonzalez

All students would have small group meetings with Gonzalez where kindness was discussed. Kindness cards were given out and the recipients were called “Ambassadors of Kindness” when an act of kindness was witnessed. “Captains of Kindness” (students, teachers and staff), “Champions of Kindness” (bilingual students), and “Heroes of Kindness” (special education students) all distributed kindness cards. Recipients of these cards would put their names on them before depositing in the ‘Kindness Jar.’ A card would be drawn weekly, and that student would receive a positive phone call home, a special You Are Awesome card and Gator Bucks. The student’s name would also be announced on the morning broadcast.

Kindness lessons would be seen once a week on the morning TV announcements. Tip sheets with ideas for conversations would be given to case managers. Gifted students would meet with their school counselor to talk about the project and their important role, and practice how to distribute cards.

Monthly, brightly colored half-sheets of paper would be distributed to teachers on a rotation basis. During one Gator Time, teachers would ask students to write messages of kindness on those sheets. These would be posted on the Wall of Kindness panel in the cafeteria, which would change once a month.

Students would be asked to be a part of the school-wide kindness program by signing a Pledge to Commit to Being Kind. Once all 1,100 students, teachers and staff signed the pledge, an announcement was made on the morning news. Throughout the year, different tip sheets with ideas for various acts of kindness would be distributed to teachers for them to share in an open dialogue with students. Kindness vocabulary words and their applications were also distributed to teachers to share with students.

As a school counselor, Gonzalez offered to visit all classrooms, by invitation, during which she would have short conversations and lessons with the students about kindness. During the school year, students would research authors and their words of kindness. At the beginning of school, 25% of the students were given a pre-survey. The same survey was conducted at the end of the year with noticeable changes.

Gonzalez’s efforts affected the entire school population, their families and the community. She changed the culture of that school neighborhood environment for the better and her project spread around the district, through all grades, and Collier County Public Schools became a kinder place!

Hopefully, the students will grow The Kindness Project, passing it on to others and making this a better, kinder world!

Please join us Sunday, March 12 at the Power of Community Celebration to find out who this year's Stand Up for Justice Award will go to.