During the week of January 22, 2018, Round Rock ISD schools join hundreds of schools across the country for the 2018 Great Kindness Challenge. The Great Kindness Challenge is a grassroots campaign aimed at spreading goodwill and happiness in schools across the country.

With the goal of creating a culture of kindness on campuses, students are challenged to perform as many simple, kind acts as they can throughout the week. Simple acts include telling a joke or funny story, smiling at 25 people or saying thank you, while others might encourage students to step out of their comfort zones by sitting with someone new at lunch. Students can keep track of their progress with a checklist.

“This positive, proactive initiative actively demonstrates that improving campus climate through kindness can create a more inviting environment for students to build self-esteem and develop meaningful friendships,” said Dr. Christina Wiswell, director of counseling services. “Each campus has been registered with The Great Kindness Challenge and will be doing activities or continuing activities that they’ve done all year. “

Ten million kids across the United States are expected to perform 500 million acts of kindness during the weeklong event.

Click on the photo to scroll through the Kindness Gallery.