LIFE & TRENDS Spreading Message of Kindness
Two million children join project to transform lives through caring and respect. ::
BY MARISA HERMAN S
tuart muszynski got his life back on track following a debilitating illness by visualizing positive messages
of kindness. It made him realize that the same technique, if applied in schools, could help troubled students around the country.
Muszynski, a successful businessman, had been left bedridden and depressed after a bad reaction 30 years ago to a medication. It took a cognitive psychologist to
change his life by introducing him to positive visualization. After several months of “putting
positive pictures” in his mind, Muszynski began to see himself teaching students how they could use a similar technique to spread kindness, and “Project Love” was born. In May 1994, Muszynski brought
his idea of encouraging students to spread kindness, caring, and respect to a suburban high school in Cleveland, Ohio.
Since then, as president and CEO
of the Values-in-Action Foundation, his initiative of introducing kindness in the classroom has morphed into a national movement that has been implemented in more than 9,000 schools in all 50 states and reached nearly 2 million children.
“Kindness is something we all understand,” Muszynski said. With a simple message of “Just
Be Kind” driving its mission, he said schools that have gone through the program have seen more than just happier students and faculty. Schools have also reported a
reduction in violence, an increase in graduation rates, and improved academic performance. “There’s a secret sauce to turning
around a difficult environment,” he said. “We saw that wherever we implemented kindness training in a school, it took off.” In fact, in many cases, he said
the results began shortly after the program’s various kindness modules were introduced. In Cleveland middle schools, the
program reportedly helped increase “conditions for learning” by 15% after just three months. In 2016, in one of the city’s most
violent schools, John Adams High School, four boys were killed due to
gang violence. A year later, Muszynski said, the
school’s graduation rate increased from 50% to 93% and there were zero fights after students completed the kindness program. After seeing success in Cleveland, Muszynski began exporting the training to schools nationwide. He said the goal is to “empower the
educators across the country to create these kindness ecosystems.” To do so, schools are provided with
“layers and layers of monthly modules” to introduce to different age groups at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Since 2015, the “Be Kind Stick
Together” program has trained more than 1.7 million students. With kids back in classrooms, the
focus is on one of Values-in-Action’s newer kindness initiatives, “Kindland.” Oftentimes, the modules simply
serve as a jumping-off point, he said. “Kindness grows organically,” Muszynski noted. “When kids get the bug of kindness, the positive virus of kindness spreads.” After Kindland was introduced in
Akron, Ohio, schools in 2022, “new ideas bubbled up from teachers, students, and parents,” he said. In one of the schools, a parent
suggested publishing a book of kindness poems penned by students. After receiving 160 entries from
students, a poetry book all about kindness was put together and distributed throughout the district. Muszynski said the insights kids
expressed through their poetry after being introduced to the concept of kindness were “amazing.” Last year, Kindland launched the 21
Acts of Kindness challenge board. In February, 135,000 students tuned into “Kickoff for Kindness,” a partnership with the NFL Foundation where NFL players shared their own kindness stories with students.
72 NEWSMAX MAXLIFE | JUNE 2024
©
VIAFDN.ORG
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
