“You don’t have to do something grandiose to be a world changer,” said Ridgeway Principal Kathy Wagonfield.
All it takes to be a Ridgeway World Changer is for a student to make a difference in their corner of the world, and it can be a simple act of sitting with a fellow student because they look like they need a friend, which is what fifth-grader Rozlynn Scott-Hart did “because you don’t want to see anyone sad.”
And it’s important to “just be nice, just be a good person because you never know what somebody’s going through,” she said.
Ridgeview Elementary Principal Kathy Wagonfield said recognizing their world changers has been happening for more than a dozen years.
“We think it’s important to get kids involved in their community, and to have compassion and empathy,” she said.
Students can be nominated to be a World Changer by parents, teachers and staff, fellow students, or themselves.
Kindergartner Jemma Stitzel changed her corner of the world by picking up litter in her neighborhood. First grader Wesson Dehart helped his parents prepare a flower bed for winter with his parents “and do hard work so that we can keep the world clean.”
Part of the World Changers effort is the monthly Change for Charity, where students set up tables and sell arts and crafts and other things to help raise money for charitable organizations in the community.
Credit: Provided by TVHamilton
Credit: Provided by TVHamilton
Each grade level has a project every month and donates their proceeds to charity.
“The kids are totally immersed. They love it,” Wagonfield said. “We have lots of World Changers right here at Ridgeway.”
In January, the school had grades third through fifth selling items to sell support charities, such as local organizations like Family Promise, Serve City and H.O.P.E.ful Pastures, or national charities, like St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and Make A Wish. Some support international charities, like Heifer International and Jane Goodall Institute.
“We think it’s really, really important to get kids involved in their communities,” Wagonfield said. “We just really want to promote compassion amongst our staff and our students.”
In May, they’ll have a large Change for Charity event where kids from all grades in the school will raise money for charities.
“It’s very contagious,” Wagonfield said about the act of giving and making a difference. “These kids do have big hearts, and I think what we can do as far as our instruction and modeling and working together with them, it promotes philanthropy, it promotes kindness, it promotes empathy and compassion. It’s amazing.”
Credit: Provided by TVHamilton
Credit: Provided by TVHamilton
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