Local students set to lead with Kindness again this School Year

September 4, 2025 · 0 Comments

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

If you purchased a beverage at Coffee Time in Bolton over the summer, your coffee sleeve may have been adorned with a colourful drawing or “Have a Brewtiful day.”

This was the work of a select group of students from Holy Family Catholic School here in Bolton.

The coffee sleeve project was part of the “Kindness Initiative”, planned by their Health and Wellness team of students.

These students plan and organize various activities and events for the school community that focus on promoting positive mental health and well-being for students – such as doing acts of kindness.

Santina Capobianco and Marisa Girimonte, teachers at Holy Family Elementary School involved in the project, said this was the first time they’d led such an initiative at their school after seeing it at surrounding schools.

The students at the time wanted to take on the project of decorating the coffee sleeves, as suggested by someone in their community.

Capobianco said by placing their school hashtags on the sleeves, it sparked excitement that ran through the entire school, and the students began enthusiastically decorating.

The Kindness Initiative was about spreading kindness not only within their own school but also into the Bolton community.

The initiative began during the school’s Mental Health and Wellness Week, as well as Catholic Education Week.

As part of the student-leader-organized week, a kindness campaign was also held.

Girimonte says they are always looking for things that everybody from Kindergarten to Grade 8 can do together.

“The whole purpose was to bring everybody together and then spread kindness in the community. It created that positivity within the school because each class was talking about this and what it does into the greater community,” she says.

Capobianco touched on how the students love being leaders through this initiative and taking ownership.

The initiative allows students to take on the projects through organizing and planning, as well as being able to look back on the impact they have made in the community.

“It makes them really happy. It makes them feel like they’re really doing something that has a purpose,” says Capobianco.

She shared the goal of these health and wellness leaders is to plan events that bring everyone together, fostering positivity and change.

The teachers discussed how often clubs can be exclusive, whether it’s through athletics or technology, and this initiative caters to those who aren’t interested in those types of clubs and want to utilize their leadership skills in other ways.

“You don’t have to try out or make this committee. You just have to show up and want to be there,” said Girimonte.

At the end of the year, the teachers sat down with the students and discussed the difference that their initiative had made.

As the school year rounds the corner, the teachers shared they already have a lot of interest in the committee carried over from last year.

Early into the school year, the new group of students will meet and gather ideas from surrounding schools as a “jumping off point”, said the teachers.

Students will be able to sit and discuss with other schools to generate ideas for the new year.

They shared their principal at Holy Family Elementary School, George Barnett, truly encourages the students to do as much as they can.

They said is the inspiration behind the idea, often encouraging students to take on leadership roles.

The school’s motto is to demonstrate kindness every day at school, a clear goal that they will continue to share through these initiatives into the new year.

“When you’re doing these things, where you want to spread kindness and share these kinds of things where you can bring a smile to someone’s face, regardless of what it is, that in turn makes you feel good about yourself that you’re doing good for someone else,” says Capobianco. “The goal for this team is to promote positive mental health and well-being and I think when we make others feel good it makes us feel good. That’s the main goal.”