It’s fun hanging out with the stars
JOHOR: The #StandTogether National Kindness Week celebrity school visits ended on a high at SMK Kota Masai, where the students have decided to donate their RM1,000 grant fund to multiple charities.
It was the last of 16 primary and secondary schools visited by #StandTogether Kindness Ambassadors including Harith Iskander, Jinnyboy, Arwind Kumar, and Rabbit Mac to help spotlight the best Kindness Project ideas submitted for the campaign.
SMK Kota Masai’s three-week long project was spearheaded by teacher Emily Neoh, who collaborated with her students to come up with a 16-point list of Kindness Acts, with points awarded for every action completed, and a kindness-themed essay-writing competition.
“Incentivising kindness helped build the habit in our students.” said Neoh, adding that the results were almost immediate.
“We had students that came to assist us without asking for signatures (to earn points).”
The projects made SMK Kota Masai one of the 40 schools to win a RM1,000 grant from #StandTogether campaign co-founders R.AGE and SP Setia.
The grant was allocated as cash prizes for the top three essay writers, who will now pass it on to charities of their choosing.
“Students learn about the less fortunate via books and media and it’s often just spoon-fed information. We wanted to change this.
“So for National Kindness Week, the students had to do their own research and find the charities that they personally connected with,” said Neoh.
As a bonus, the school received a celebrity visit from online comedians Luqman Podolski and Adib Alexx, who were amazed by what they saw from the students and their plans to spread kindness beyond their school walls.
“It says a lot when secondary students are thinking about which charity organisations they can work with,” said Luqman.
“That’s planting a seed from a young age and they will only grow to be more mindful of others around them.”
Despite the school visits having concluded, the kindness movement will continue through the ongoing #StandTogether Kindness Tour.
Organised by Digi and supported by the International Medical University, the tour is a series of workshops for teachers and students which will be held in every state and Federal Territory nationwide.
With eight out of 15 workshops completed, the tour has already succeeded in training over 1,600 teachers and students to be “Kindness Ambassadors” in their respective schools.
Workshops in Kuala Lumpur, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Labuan, Sabah, and Sarawak will take place in June and July.
The #StandTogether campaign will culminate in a free Kindness Concert on May 4, 2019 at Setia City Convention Centre 2, an event for all to stand together in celebration of a kinder Malaysia.
Source : TheStar
