Barkley Bridge Elementary's Passion to Compassion
Character.org recognized Barkley Bridge Elementary’s “Passion to Compassion” initiative as a 2020 Promising Practice. This recognition is given to schools who have implemented unique, specific, and effective character development strategies, and Barkley Bridge is one of six Alabama schools celebrated in 2020.
Remarkably, every single one of Barkley Bridge’s pre-k through 4th grade students participates in the school wide Passion to Compassion initiative that invites students to use their passions to design and implement “educational compassionate projects” and exemplifies Character.org’s 2nd and 4th Principles of Effective Character (#2: Defining “character” to include thinking, feeling, and doing and #4 Creating a caring community).
To begin, the librarian and counselor introduce Passion Projects and Genius Hour to every student in the building. Following this introduction, each student indicates an interest they have outside of school. This results in an impressive list of over 400 “passions” on display in the hallways. From this list, similar passions are consolidated into Broad Topic Passions, and students become part of larger groups based on the passion they initially chose. The school provides four “Genius Hour” sessions during the year for the 20+ student groups (separated by pre-K through 1st grade and 2nd grade through 4th grade) to work on their Passion Project.
During each scheduled meeting time, groups decided how they can develop a project with a purpose that shows compassion. Most groups decide to research and develop a project to benefit local community stakeholders.
A few examples of the resulting community implementation from previous years are below:
collected money/goods and delivered to local animal shelter
raised money to help a dog (Roxy) get heartworm treatment/spayed/adopted
made encouraging signs for students competing in the Special Olympics
built a fence for a chained dog after presentation to Hartselle City Council members pleading for an ordinance against chaining dogs
collected money for the World Wildlife Federation
built a community garden that supplied food for lunchroom along with summer fruit and vegetable supplies for families in need
To conclude their efforts, student groups create presentations to share what they learn during their research and project experience; these are shared and celebrated at a schoolwide assembly.
School counselor Jamie Haynes describes the impact this initiative has on Barkley Bridge’s student body, “By exploring a variety of topics, students are able to show empathy, compassion, and become caring individuals through different acts of kindness which supports our mission statement and our student-created creed. In turn, this leads to the development of social and emotional learning components of essential behaviors to be a productive citizen.”
The Hope Institute is proud to continue a partnership with Barkley Bridge Elementary as they continue on a character journey that reaches through classroom walls and into their community.