By Lou Ponsi

The word “kindness” spelled with silver Mylar balloons positioned above a rainbow-colored balloon archway greeted students, teachers, staff, and parents as they arrived at Ladera Ranch Middle School on the morning of Feb. 1.

Kindness Month at Ladera Ranch Middle School was officially underway.

The wide sidewalk in front of the school was transformed into a cement canvas filled with messages etched in chalk.

“You can make someone’s day,” declared one message.

“Kindness is never wasted,” read another.

Sixth-grader Tatum Altmann wrote: “Be yourself.”

“You don’t want to be someone else because yourself is the best thing that you can be,” Tatum said. “Everyone else in your life can leave but you have to stay with yourself so you might as well be yourself.”

This year’s Kindness Month theme, “We rise by Lifting Others,” marks a month filled with a full range of activities and events, all focusing on kindness from different perspectives.

Every aspect of Kindness Month has been thought out and planned by teacher Amanda Hatcher’s Peer Assisted Leadership students, known commonly as PAL.

“How proud I am of Mrs. Hatcher and our PAL students and their efforts in putting together such a wonderful month to inspire our staff, our students, and the community,” Principal Cynthia Steinert said.

The PAL class, which consists of 35 seventh and eighth graders, divided Kindness Month into four distinct weeks, each with a different focus on the central theme.

“It shows you there is not just one way to be kind,” Hatcher said.

Activities during the first week centered around the theme, “Be Kind to Others.” “Be Kind to Your Community,” is the theme for the second week. The theme for the third week is “Be Kind to Your Body,” followed by “Be Kind to the Environment” for the fourth week.

Highlights include a two-week long coin drive to raise money for scholarships given on behalf of a Ladera Ranch Middle School student who passed away.

During “Be Kind to Your Body” week, trivia games on topics such as a healthy diet, mental health and the dangers of vaping will be held.

The “Be Kind to Your Environment” week features events like trash basketball and a cup stacking game, which were planned by Ladera Ranch’s civics class.

“I’m looking forward to ‘Be Kind to the Environment,’” seventh grader Colby Smith said, “because there is a Walk to School Day and all the fun games that are up on the stage. I’ll probably do some of them during lunch.”

Eighth grader Molly McCabe is looking forward to the coin drive.

“We’ve been doing it every single year in the PAL program and it just makes me really happy to help a family in need,” Molly said.

Kindness Month comes on the heels of Ladera Ranch’s anti-bullying workshop in January, where students learned to recognize bullying in its many forms, along with ways to combat the harmful behavior.

More Kindness stories: 

Kindness Week is every week at Oak Grove Elementary

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