Ohio Valley Mall Kindness Kickoff celebrates Bridgeport Elementary students
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE - The Ohio Valley Mall is once again tackling bullying during its annual Kindness Kickoff, held on Wednesday morning.
The mall’s annual event has the goal of spreading kindness throughout the community.
Wednesday saw Bridgeport Elementary second and third grade students attend an assembly at the mall's center court.
Mall Marketing Director Candi Noble-Greathouse said that the two classes were celebrated because teacher Heather Goff’s class was the recipient of the mall's Blue the Pumpkin storybook last year.
Goff's class entered a writing contest hosted by the Ohio Valley Mall. Students wrote about different ways they would help Blue the Pumpkin feel included. Goff then compiled the student's writing into a class book.
"Blue’s just a small pumpkin in a very large pumpkin patch. He has a small split stem, and it makes him very self-conscious. His mom knows what makes him different can also make him special, and she tries to encourage Blue not to worry about the split. What happens next is up to you," Noble-Greathouse said. "Miss Goff’s classroom each wrote and colored a different page."
She added that this year's winning classroom will receive a pizza and cookie party supplied by Castello’s Pizza and Pasta and Great American Cookie Company.
All schools are encouraged to participate and can enter after Oct. 31.
"Then we’ll choose a winning school. The school that wins' teacher will win a mall gift card, and we brought a pizza and cookies to celebrate with the kids. Then the kids will get a bound book of their story," Noble-Greathouse said.
The students then had the opportunity to make slime and friendship bracelets with the Boy Scouts of America and learned how to plant a plant by Belmont County Soil and Water Conservation District.
"We have little succulents that each kid will take home, so they’ll be planting seeds of kindness," Noble-Greathouse said. "Then we are sending the kids home with random acts of kindness flyers that have a chart on it that tells them what they can do to help their families and friends and be kind to everyone."
Then the main event occurred, the elementary school students erupted into a roar of applause when Jersey the Therapy Dog made a special surprise appearance.
Jersey's handler Belmont County sheriff's Deputy Jennifer Yuhase then spoke to the students about the importance of being kind to others.
She asked the students if they thought Jersey is kind to others with the crowd responding with a loud "yes."
"I want you to be kind like Jersey," Yuhase said.
She added that kindness can be as simple as saying good morning to another student when arriving at school.
Yuhase then gave another example of small acts of kindness that could make a huge difference in other students’ lives.
"What would you do if you saw somebody sitting in the lunchroom by themselves? Sit with them. That’s an excellent way to show somebody some kindness," Yuhase said. "You don’t have to have a big fancy lunch box, and you don’t have to be rich. Anybody can be nice to anybody, it doesn’t take anything to be nice to somebody."