L.E. White Middle School teacher Becky Calvert knows that changing school culture and climate starts with two simple words: be nice.
That is the reason why she and the middle school student kindness group she advises are excited to roll out the Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan’s “Be Nice” program this fall.
“The student team has had ‘Be Nice’ in its vision for many, many years,” Mrs. Calvert said. “We want to encourage kindness, so this program really goes hand in hand.” Mrs. Calvert said “Be Nice” is focused on challenging stigmas around mental health. “It encourages people to be nice to each other, because then we can make this a safe place where we can talk about what we’re dealing with and the problems we have.”
The students were so excited about the opportunity to bring the program to the middle school that they even voted to change their group’s name from “Tigers Unite” to “Be Nice Leaders.” “The important thing behind this is that it is student driven,” Mrs. Calvert said. “The students are the ones that are determining activities. The students are the ones that are meeting and reaching out to the community partners. So these are like
our student liaisons leading the way, and that’s how it’s going to actually spread.”
Mrs. Calvert admits that it has always been a challenge for her group to continually come up with creative ideas to make a positive impact on their school and community. Fortunately, that will change this year. “The ‘Be Nice’ Foundation has hundreds of resources that the team can dive into and start implementing in the school,” she said.
In addition, the students will receive support from other area schools that have already implemented the “Be Nice” program. “It will be really neat to collaborate with multiple districts around West Michigan,” Mrs. Calvert said.
As last school year came to a close, Mrs. Calvert and her students had al- ready started sharing information about the program with teachers. As a way to raise awareness of the program with students, staff were given the option to purchase shirts with the “Be Nice” logo on it. Mrs. Calvert said that the student kindness group was beyond elated at the support the teachers showed. “They were absolutely blown away when all of the staff were wearing their shirts,” she said. “They were so blown away by that support.”
