In an effort to encourage students to “treat one another with greater kindness and compassion,” Benjamin Logan (BL) Middle School held two sessions of the YouUplift – Kindness Assembly at the BL high school auditorium on Friday, Sept. 12. Students in seventh- and eighth-grade attended the earlier session with fifth- and sixth-graders at one in the afternoon.
Speaker Doug Reavis admitted to the students his history as a bully in school ended when his special needs brother Chris showed him a path to true happiness.
“How is it,” Reavis asked himself when he was young, “that someone who has nothing is happy all the time and someone who has everything is not?”
He then shared stories of his youth, mostly in high school, when he changed his ways and befriended those who tended to be picked on, focusing on his friendship with a special needs boy named Luther.
Reavis encouraged the students to be aware of the impact their spoken and written words can have, adding, “All it takes is one sentence to change somebody’s life forever.”
BL hopes programs like this will empower students to “build a positive school culture, reduce online negativity, and amplify uplifting messages among peers.”
Todd Shadley, BL middle school principal, closed out the assembly by telling them this wasn’t just an excuse to get out of class on a Friday afternoon.
“This is something I want us to focus on … for the rest of the year and even beyond,” Shadley concluded.
You can find out more about Reavis and his mission at youuplift.com/kindness-assembly.
