WATSONVILLE — The students at Mintie White Elementary School spent the past two weeks performing acts of kindness for their friends and family. They then wrote each of these acts upon a strip of paper, which became the link in a chain in their classrooms.
These were linked together on Friday, when the school unveiled the completed chain — 3,610 links in all. It will be draped around the school’s multipurpose room as a reminder of the two-week initiative.
The Kindness and Justice Challenge was inspired by the philosophies of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez.
Principal Vicki Hallof started the activity at Radcliff Elementary about 10 years ago.
“Each link in that chain represents someone whose life was changed,” Hallof said.
Some students reported helping their teachers around the classroom, while others said they picked up extra chores to assist overworked parents.
One boy said he held the door open at a grocery store for a woman “so it would be easier for her,” and another one helped a fellow student clean up markers “even when I didn’t use them.”
“These are the little things that make a big difference,” Hallof told the students.
