Benjamin Continues Partnership With Foster Care Organization

MS FOCUSES ON BENJAMIN VALUES DURING KINDNESS WEEK

The Benjamin School continued its partnership with Friends of Foster Children (FOFC) for the School’s 2020-2021 annual community service project after the partnership was truncated last spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The mission of Friends of Foster Children is to enrich the lives of those impacted by foster care. All three divisions participated in a variety of service projects throughout the year that benefited the organization.

During the week of January 18, the Middle School celebrated “No NameCalling Week.” The week emphasized the importance of kindness, and engaged students in educational activities and discussions aimed at ending name-calling and bullying of all kinds. The week, led by middle school student services counselor Kari Rankine, was inspired by the novel The Misfits in which a group of students organize a similar day at their fictional middle school.

“Motivated by this simple yet powerful idea, the No Name-Calling Week Coalition organized an actual No Name-Calling Week in schools for the first time in 2004. The event is now held annually in schools nationwide,” said Rankine.

An assortment of quotes about kindness were placed throughout the middle school campus, along with a “Kindness Garden,” where students posted messages about ways in which they had been kind to others. Students participated in a hashtag challenge, generating hashtags like #Kool2bKind, in an effort to promote the initiatives of the week. “Students also explored the role that forgiveness and compassion play in moving forward once name-calling and bullying have occurred,” said Rankine. “It is my hope that we can use this week to share and learn from one another, while working to achieve our goals of advocacy and bringing our 12 Benjamin Values to life.”