Students and staff at LaSalle Elementary take celebrating kindness very seriously, according to Frances Kumpic, a special education technician at the school.
“We run kindness campaigns every year where random acts of kindness are are rewarded,” she said. “And I think when they’re kind, they’re less likely to be bullying other children.”
An especially important date on the kindness calendar at the school is Pink Shirt Day, celebrated in schools across the country every year on Feb. 28.
“Pink Shirt Day is when a little boy got bullied because he was wearing pink,” explained Grade 2 student Celina Minott.
It happened to a Grade 9 student at a Nova Scotia school in 2007.
“Other students stood up for him and decided to wear pink shirts the next day,” said LaSalle Elementary principal France Poirier.
“And since since then in Canada, you know, we celebrate Pink Shirt Day by reminding everyone to be kind and to always stand up for those who are victims of bullying.”
It’s a message that seems be getting across with Poirier’s students.
“It wasn’t cool what people did because there is no such thing as girl colours and boys colours,” said Grade 2 student Blake Sterling.
“People have their own fashion and people should agree on what they think.”
Minott agreed with her schoolmate.
“He got bullied and bullying is not OK,” she said, when asked why Pink Shirt Day was important.
“We will be wearing pink shirts to show respect for him.”