Aberdeen Elementary students look to share kindness beyond Pink Shirt Day

KAMLOOPS — What began in 2007 as a show of support for a young schoolmate being bullied has now grown into an international movement to end bullying.

Feb. 23 is Pink Shirt Day across Canada.

Students across School District 73 donned their pinkest shirts and used the opportunity to speak out in favour of kindness and against bullying. That includes Aberdeen Elementary School.

“It’s actually quite flashy,” Connor Friess says, looking at his pink shirt.

“I mean…” Brooke Reimer says, as she holds up a strand of her pink hair.

“She constantly has pink on because of the pink hair,” Connor tells us.

What started 15 years ago as a point of ridicule has become a badge of honour. Today is Pink Shirt Day across Canada, which began as a way for people to stand up against bullying.

“We want to create habits in our kids so that moving forward, kindness is something they do naturally,” Aberdeen Elementary Principal Tanya Rogers explains. “So that one day, we don’t even have an anti-bullying day, because it’s obsolete.”

For the past week, the students at Aberdeen Elementary School — including these four — have been taking the time to consider the impacts of their actions.

“It’s going to, like, reflect back to you,” Cameron Friess explains. “If you help someone else, they’re going to want to be your friend, and then they’re going to want to help you, a lot.”

“Even the tiniest bit of kindness can change the world every second,” Jackson Haines says.

It’s hard to miss the message, as there are kindness reminders all over school, which the entire student body — from the oldest to the youngest — have helped create.

“These are ideas from Kindergarten students about what kindness is,” Ms. Rogers says. “They also were kindness fairies — they took notes of gratitude and treats around to various staff members and different classes.”

With the kindness on display at Aberdeen Elementary, it truly seems as if that decency is becoming the default — at least in this neighbourhood.

“I’ve even seen students trying to help, trying to do little things of kindness to help random kids,” Connor Friess says. “It’s, like, really becoming not a school thing. It’s really going through Aberdeen.”

So remember that next time you’re frustrated or angry with someone — because we could all use a little more kindness in our lives.