Creating jars of joy

In Unionville, Indiana, Kaia Francis is a fifth grader at the elementary school. She noticed that COVID-19 has made a lot of people not notice the good, but she saw many kind acts at her school that made people happy. So she went to her Principal, Lily Albright, to propose a Jar of Joy project, where jars could be placed in each classroom for students to write down what made them happy during the week.

The project recently started. At first, Kaia and the school's Student Advisory Board discussed the possibility of offering incentives for participating. They decided against it, wanting the notes to be genuine and from the heart. Each week, Principal Albright will empty the joy jars and select a few moments of joy from each classroom to feature on the intercom. The notes will also be posted on the bulletin board in the hallway."I hope it just makes the school a better place," said Kaia.