Celebrate Kindness

Small posters bearing the message “Celebrate Kindness; Interrupt Unkindness” show up in many of our classrooms and all over campus. Like our Core Values, key phrases like that are meant to be inspirational and aspirational. We will not always live up to those aspirations. We try to make learning experiences of the mistakes students make. 

Interrupting a classmate who is saying something unkind requires a lot of our Core Value of courage. What a difference a peer can make by pointing out that that comment, or that joke, seems to be hurting our friend’s feelings. 

While celebrating kindness is not difficult, we sometimes simply forget to do it. Sara Teegarden, Upper School History Teacher, recently shared a video with me that was such a great celebration of good spirit and wonderful classmates. The Class of 2026 had their day on the Falcon Challenge Course (our ropes course). Faculty and staff members have been through significant training in order to be facilitators when our students get their days on the course. Mrs. Teagarden oversees that cohort of facilitators. The lessons our students learn going through the various challenges that that course offers are not about formulas or timelines. They are lessons about facing fears, supporting others through their fears and challenges, and cooperating for the group’s success.  

I wanted others to see the video Mrs. Teegarden shared with me of senior Chance Odom, all roped in, wearing the safety helmet, on belay, stuck on top of the 25-foot-tall pole, trying to motivate a jump for the trapeze that was 10 feet away. The video is not as important as the audio. The power here is the support you hear from Chance’s classmates. The seniors who were on the ground are really the stars of this one-minute clip. They clearly get the impact of their support for a classmate. Their kindness toward Chance deserves to be celebrated.