Kristin Layman, school counselor for Quitman Middle and High Schools, has been behind the scenes, making stuff happen at the school since she was hired two years ago.

One of the major projects that Layman has been involved with is the inception of “Kindness Club,” a school-wide extracurricular club that teaches kids to “try to find easy things to do to make someone smile.”

According to Layman, the nearly 20 students who are regularly involved in Kindness Club do things like hosting a drive for local nursing homes and then distributing the goods, participating in a suicide prevention walk, doing a “Kindness Rock Garden” and more. One 14-year-old student has met and “adopted” a grandma from a local nursing home – a connection, Layman says, that the student might not have made without Kindness Club.

In February, the Kindness Club has gone above and beyond to serve fellow students, faculty and community through “Kindness Week,” a time everyone is being intentional about doing random acts of kindness.

“It’s winter. I feel like depression is so much higher in these months…. I’m just trying to get the kids to be like, ‘One positive thing can make a difference,” said Layman. “Kindness is not the norm, but it should be the norm.”

In fact, not only is the Kindness Club involved in Kindness Week, but Layman said that she partnered with QISD teachers and classes to bring the whole school into the project. 

The health science classes gave every staff member a carnation with an attached card, she said. Students brought 100 yellow carnations to the hospital and gave them to patients and workers.

The marketing class made posters with positive messages to hang in hallways. Culinary class students baked 500 cookies, attached a fun quote and gave one to all the students and all the staff. Student Council members wrote messages to elementary students.

Through the school-wide participation, Layman said that she’s seen more students want to be involved in Kindness Club. Some faculty and staff are helping out.

“It was fun for the other kids that aren’t in the Kindness Club to kind of see, like, it really is that easy to be kind!” said Layman. “That’s my big point to get across: it takes more time to be rude and hurtful than it does to just say ‘Hi,’ or ‘How was your day?’”