“For example, you have a teacher whose parents are in a nursing home, so one group took them in for a year,” says Cerasoli. “One month there was a bingo competition with prizes. Another group wrote Valentine cards.

Another group helped animal shelters. Others wrote thank you notes to nurses. The year-long project recently won a Promising Practice Award from character.org, a national non-profit that promotes positive character development in students.

Indian Knoll was one of 152 schools nationwide and just one of four schools in Georgia to be honored. (Liberty Elementary School, Cherokee, also in Canton, has been recognized in the past and is included in the most recent list.)

Cerasoli said the honor strengthened his determination to do more.

“Kindness is very important to us now, and we want to emphasize that by showing kindness, we can do something for the school and the community,” she said. can be self-focused, but when they see others having problems, they learn that as a community they can work together to solve them. There are people inside the building who can help them.”

Sarah Duckett has seen firsthand the impact of this program. Last year, her nine-year-old daughter, Aubrey, and two of her friends spearheaded a fundraiser for St. Her Jude Children’s Hospital.

“These third grade girls came up with the idea of ​​having a Pajama Day and asked the kids to bring a stuffed animal and a dollar,” Duckett said. “They collected money in a bucket on their doorstep, worked with the school treasurer to count, and found that they had earned $600. It was one of my proudest moments to see how it instilled the idea of

Information about Indian knoll online https://www.cherokeek12.net/indianknolles.

Send us your story. Each week we look at programs, projects and successful initiatives in local schools from pre-kindergarten to graduate school. To suggest a story, contact HM Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or 770-744-3042.