Kastner students teach their peers character strengths through the 'Positivity Project'

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Beyond the bookwork.

Students at Kastner Intermediate are using their creative side to send home an important message.

Students are teaching their peers about dozens of different characteristics through the 'Positivity Project.'

It's a nationwide and district-wide program.

Resource Specialist Teacher Brittany Lee runs the leadership class.

Each month, she teaches her class about a new characteristic.

"Once my leadership students understand that trait, then it's their job to go out and teach it to the rest of the community," Resource Specialist Teacher and leadership instructor Brittany Lee said.

Students like 7th grader Haley Loorz then put their own creative touch on teaching.

They make a monthly video for their peers where they cover character strengths like kindness, social intelligence and humility.

"You can do like describe it, you can do some slides, you can do a skit. It's anything that can just explain to the students the trait that we're learning about," Haley said.

Each Tuesday, all classes take part in the Positivity Project in first period.

That includes watching and discussing the video their classmates made or working on a challenge.

The class that wins the challenge gets a prize like a pizza party or donuts.

Eighth grader JJ Howard says the program fills a need on campus.

"We have math, English and science, but we don't have a straight just class of ethics where people can learn how to be a better person -- or have the environment to be better," JJ said.

Students can also be rewarded individually if they're caught demonstrating the monthly trait.

And for kids like JJ, he takes pride in being a role model, especially as a three-sport athlete.

"Me being a student-athlete, I have to be a leader for my peers, so me just being able to relay the message they relay to me to my peers, it just helps me be a better leader," JJ said.

Haley says she's proud to be part of the program and wants all their hard work to continue to pay off.

"I hope that they will be able to use these every day to definitely improve their character, and I hope that this can also improve campus culture for the better," Haley said.

The positivity project works to coordinate characteristics based on the time of year, so as we're headed into February, this month's characteristic is love.

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