EXCITING NEWS!
We are happy to announce our new international contest KINDNESS CITY-SCHOOL and invite children worldwide, ages 3-5; 6-11; 12-14; and 15-18 to participate in it. The overarching goal is to create and present a project of a mini-Kindness city-school with its own specific culture where daily acts of kindness are recognized and promoted as the only norm of behavior. Projects could be submitted individually, or as a group of students, or as a mixed group of children with adults. You will compete to win three prizes of $150.00, $100.00, and $50.00 in each of three age categories: 6-11; 12-14; 15-18 years old.
We ask participants: Imagine that overnight your school is transformed into a mini–Kindness City with its own mayor, City Hall, lanes, streets, avenues, squares, recreation places, information services, cafeterias, libraries, museums, residential neighborhoods, sports facilities, and the like. Demonstrate verbally or visually what you will see, hear, taste, and smell, and how you will feel when entering such a fantastic school. You can use drawings with/without explanations, or photos, or videos, or written texts.
Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2023. Winners will be announced by February 15, 2024. Each participant will receive a Certificate of Participation. For more details click here. To submit, use our registration/submission form. Any questions/concerns send to kindnessexpressions@gmail.com.
PILOT PROJECT IS OVER!
Our Child-Generated Teacher-Friendly Kindness Curricula Materials were used during the period from September 10 to December 10, 2022 as a pilot project. The group of participants included teachers, school administrators, special education staff members, librarians, social workers, preschool and kindergarten educators, and university faculty from 11 countries and 5 continents. The participants represented different types of educational institutions including public, charter, and private pre K-12 schools, community centers, and NGOs. The results definitely exceeded our expectations – 749 children, ages 3-18, and 25 professionals in Africa, Europe, North and South America. There were also additional 250+ students who participated in a few activities in the Azores (Portugal), India, and Turkey. For more information and materials, please click here.
Kindness Vocabulary (click here) was composed after the analysis of the language utilized by the participants in the Showcase and the pilot project. It is a selection of the most frequently and actively used words and phrases found in the submissions. Although the Vocabulary is done in English, it embraces different languages and cultures in which our participants communicated with the project team. Based on the multinational platform, this Vocabulary could be translated from English into any other national language.
Each participant was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation, and we started receiving photos and thanks from them, first ones came from Alizava secondary school in Lithuania, Education and English For You in Cote d’Ivoire, and III. Osnovna Škola, in Varaždin, Croatia.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Expect the unexpected outcomes, and they really happen. One of our pilot participants, US teacher Stacey Zaback from Oregon shared with us a beautiful story and photos of her middle school students inspired by Rachel N., 12, from MA, who initiated friendship bracelets for Ukrainian refugee children in May 2022. The Oregon teenagers came up with a similar idea of making bracelets but to use them in their own school. They gave all the bracelets to the guidance counselor who, in turn, will present them to students experiencing a bad day at school. Kindness is indeed contagious!
Another unexpected outcome: Stacey Zaback donated her project-related teacher’s stipend to one Ukrainian refugee family whose children are students at our pilot school, III. Osnovna Škola, in Varaždin, Croatia. In the photos below you see the children with their mother and the school representative Valentina Habunek Mrazović, who brought the donation from Stacey.
“The kind will inherit the earth. … Kindness is compassion in action.”
~ Amit Sood, 2013
To the participants of the International Expressions of Kindness Multimedia Showcase
Dear project participants!
The project is now over. We are very grateful for all your wonderful submissions that came from 45 countries around the world. We have received over 1,000 entries created by 1,800 + participants. You can find all entries on this website and read my final report here.
We are practically done with issuing and emailing certificates but if you haven’t received yours, please contact us at kindnessexpressions@gmail.com and indicate your first and last name, as well as the title and category of your submission.
With appreciation and very best wishes to all of you,
Dr. Tatyana Tsyrlina-Spady, Project Director and International Coordinator
CATEGORIES TO USE:
Our Kindness Champions!
The Kindness Champion title has been awarded to different categories of individuals or groups determined by the Project Action team together with the Youth Board to acknowledge those who:
- Were the first to submit the project from their own country/state/school. For example, Kindness Champion in Poland, or Oregon Kindness Champion (USA), or Alizava Basic School Kindness Champions (Lithuania).
- Submitted the entry which was the most meaningful to inspire others to action.
- Entered the project that has made a difference either in someone’s life or in the life of animals, or in the preservation of nature and a healthy environment.
- Proved to be the most active coordinators in their country and generated a large number of entries.
Names of all champions are published below and special Champion certificates were sent via email to each of them. The logo on the Certificate was created by our Project Youth Board. We expect that these champions will serve as true advocates of kindness in their circle of friends and beyond.
Congratulations to our Kindness Champions who were the first in their own country to submit an entry: Sophia, 12, USA; David, 12, Romania; Katya, 11, Russia; Tejae, 12, Trinidad and Tobago; Akeza, 11, Rwanda; Roehann, 5, Philippines; Farooq, 10, Bangladesh; Annabel, 8, Canada; Yassine, 14, Tunisia; Kean, 13, Mozambique; Paul, 5, France; Caleb, 8, Mexico; Sofia, 12, Ukraine; Mariama, 13, The Gambia; Cora, 11, China; Vita, 6, The Netherlands; Zani, 9, Switzerland; Lottie, 11, United Kingdom; Kossua Esther Emmanuella Adjoumani, Cote d’Ivoire; Sahibjit Singh Bhullar, India; Isabella, 17, New Zealand; Isaac, 17, Australia; Latif, 15, Uganda; Justiniano, 18, Dominican Republic; Salman, 4, Saudi Arabia; Wiadzo, 17, Czech Republic; Iveel, 7, Mongolia; Nathan, 4, South Korea.
Congratulations to the first adult Kindness Champions, the most active coordinators and teachers in their own country: Irina Belienė and Danutė Miknevičienė, Lithuania; Kristina Cernei and Nadejda Simion, Republic of Moldova; Melinda Pierson, USA and Haiti; Verica Jukić, Croatia; Joanna Przybylska, Poland; Tatiana Serova, Ukraine; Chintamani Yogi and Samrat Yogi, Nepal; Mylene Tapiador, The Philippines; Estela Carrera-Infante and Nancy Webster, USA; Milandre Vlok, South Africa; Toti Jean-Marc Yalé, Cote d’Ivoire; Mayasari Abdul Majid, Malaysia; Zakir Hossain, Bangladesh, Croatia, Malaysia, Switzerland; Ramandeep, India; Veronica Veretennikova, Russia; Kristi Gibbs, Stacey Zaback, USA; Cristiana de Sousa Pizarro Bravo Madureira, Mozambique.
Congratulations to the first submitters in their state in the United States: Elsa, 15, WA; Brooke, 15, CA; Reid, 10, and Emerie, 12, AZ; Fiona, 6, HI; Olivia, 9, Luke, 7, and Will, 7, OH; Rachel, 12, MA.
Congratulations to our first Kindness Champion in the category: Inspired Others for Action. Grace K., 8 years old, managed to inspire many students in Mukilteo Elementary School to create 150 friendship bracelets along with heart drawings and cards for Ukrainian refugee children.
The International Expressions of Kindness has been initiated by the NW Center for Excellence in Media Literacy, College of Education, University of Washington, and the nonprofit organization Action for Media Education.
The project is done in partnership with Child Rights in Action, International Council for Media Literacy, National Association for Media Literacy Education, International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) Region 9 – International Schools, and Wisdom Thinkers Network.
We also received endorsements from the following individuals, national and international organizations and groups:
Marta Santos Pais, child rights lawyer, and a former UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children.
The Evolved Nest
Janusz Korczak Society of Russia
Janusz Korczak Association of Canada
Daktaro Janušo Korčako centras / Doctor Janusz Korczak Centre (Lithuania)
International Korczak Association
Film Access Northumberland, and EducommunicAfrik.
Step-by-step guidelines that explain how to submit are available in English here, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. Interested in downloading the project flyer in 16 different languages, click here, it will bring you to the International Coordinators page and scroll to the bottom of this page.
Curious to learn more about the project results? Download the Final Report.