Middle School Students Make Birthdays Better in Brewster
Birthdays at Henry H. Wells Middle School just got a little more exciting. The Birthday Buddies, a group of three 7th graders that are part of the Kindness Klub, have started to recognize student birthdays each week by decorating the lockers of their peers.
“The idea started from the excitement you get when you get your locker decorated for your birthday,” said Brianna Franklin, one of the Birthday Buddies.
“A lot of people don’t get that because it only happens if your friends do it,” Jenna Mueller added. Mueller first spoke about the idea with her mom before asking Franklin and Mya Coston if they’d help. The three girls then took the idea to Joanna Biagi, seventh grade counselor and Kindness Klub advisor.
The club, which started last year with a group of sixth graders and is now 26 members strong, works hard to spread kindness in the Wells community. The group has done amazing things like hosting a Kindness Week last month, posting encouraging posters around the school, painting a mural, putting inspirational notes on every student’s locker, and running a food drive. They also try to recognize others with “What’s Up Wednesday.” On Wednesdays, all Wells students are given a kindness challenge. A recent example was “to help at least three people do something they are struggling with; say kind words and tell them to be determined.”
When the girls came to Biagi with the Birthday Buddies idea, she thought the Kindness Klub would be a great fit. “Three members in particular, the Birthday Buddies, decided to be kind by recognizing everyone’s birthdays throughout the year,” Biagi said. “With some help, they created a simple acknowledgement of each student’s birthday.”
To catch up on the birthdays they’ve missed so far, the core group of Birthday Buddies turned to their Kindness Klub friends for help. Club members took to the halls of Wells in pairs with supplies and clipboards in hand. The clipboards had all the information they needed to match birthdays and locker numbers. They taped a special birthday note, a colorful balloon, and a pencil to each locker all in the hopes of giving their classmates that special feeling of excitement.
