Bullying is a topic you’ll hear discussed in schools across our nation. It’s something we grew up with as children, and it’s something that now affects our own children. In recent years, however, we are seeing a wave of kindness spread across schools. Groups of students are working together to bring about change. One example that can be found in some of our schools is the addition of ROCK — Roots of Compassion and Kindness.
Collier County Public Schools teamed up with Florida Gulf Coast University about five years ago to bring ROCK into our schools. FGCU already had a ROCK Center on its campus and agreed to allow its students to apply their learning in the community by teaching our local school children the core values of compassion, kindness, and empathy. Pine Ridge Middle School joined the ROCK movement last school year.
“It’s something I really believe in,” explains PRMS school counselor Pamela Schram. “I really feel like if we give
students the power and the okay to be kind, that they’re going to follow it.”
Scott Peacock is an eighth grade student and member of ROCK at PRMS. “I wanted to get involved with the ROCK team because I really want to try and promote more kindness and compassion throughout the school and our district as a whole. If I’m walking the school hallways, I like to help out kids who don’t know where they are going, or just need help, or just need to sit with someone at lunch.”
Jose Miguel, another ROCK member at PRMS, shares Scott’s enthusiasm for the program. “Every day I come to school and try to be the best I can to everyone. All of my teachers have told me I’m a pretty good person, that I have good character, which is why I like to spread kindness and happiness around our school.”
Schram says it’s making a difference. “The other day at lunch, I had a boy sitting by himself and I had a group of eighth grade boys sitting nearby. They got up and went over and began talking to the boy who was alone. The next day, he was by himself again. That same group of boys said, ‘Hey, come over here and sit with us.’ So that boy got up and went over and sat with them. It was so beautiful to see students acting like that and trying to help out other kids. That’s what we’re all about.”
“I really think this is a great thing that we’ve got going here,” adds Peacock. “I’m moving up [to high school], but I want to try and pass it on and keep doing something good with it.”