INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A group of high schoolers in the Kansas City metro is dedicated to spreading kindness.
The Kindness Youth Leadership Team was born out of SevenDays, a nonprofit organization created in 2014 by the families of three victims shot and killed outside Village Shalom by the Jewish Community Center.
Emma Sandler, a junior at Blue Valley High School, says the decision to join the leadership team was personal for her.
“Very personally affected me because I am a Jewish student here in the community,” Sandler said.
One of the shooting victims was also a student at Blue Valley High School. Sandler says spreading kindness is a great way to honor the then 14-year-old Reat Underwood’s memory.
Being a part of SevenDays has given Sandler a voice to be an advocate for change. Along with 18 other peers on the Kindness Youth Leadership Team, she has led many outreach projects, including making posters for Olathe East, but she hopes the ripple effect will not end with her.
“It starts with young leaders who can do that and be pinpoints in getting messages out there against hate crimes and for positive change in the world,” Sandler said.
The team’s efforts to spread kindness are reaching other vantage points around the metro.
Taylor Jett, a senior at Truman High School, used her personal struggle as an opportunity to carry out SevenDays’ mission. She started writing messages of encouragement on notecards and taped them all over the school.
“Maybe that one little note will really brighten their day and encourage them to brighten someone else’s day,” Jett said. “I feel like being a high school student, or just a teenager in general, can be super stressful. And just seeing these little notes when you’re walking to class maybe helps someone. You never know what someone is going through during the day.”
Truman High School Associate Principal Justin Hargens says the intention may have been to help other students, but the positive notes have created a bigger splash.
“Just something simple you know — not a lot of words, not a lot to it. But it was just enough to kind of give you a smile and make you think, ‘Okay, I needed that,'” Hargens said.
Navigating in-person learning after two years of uncertainty has been difficult, but Hargens says seeing his students support each other has been inspiring.
“Kids can see their peers are struggling and they want to try to help,” Hargens said.
