Frederick School Student Spreads Kindness Through Pay it Forward Project

Fifth-grader Faith Rowland had an idea.

As a student in Lisa Lagudem’s Genius Hour class, she needed a project to work on that she was passionate about. So, she decided to make a difference in the world, according to a District 46 press release.

She polled her fellow students and found out that a lot of them did not know the concept of “paying it forward” – doing something nice for someone and rather than the recipient doing something nice back for you, they reach out to do something nice for someone else.

Rowland explains that even though you don’t get a physical reward for helping someone out, you get an amazing feeling by helping someone. You just might help someone you didn’t know was going through a really hard time. She stresses to always remember to pay it forward, even if the other person doesn’t follow through.

What can a student do to pay it forward?

Rowland gives these examples: help someone who is struggling in class, donate old clothes to a charity or homeless shelter, make friends with those who seem lonely at school, giving someone a hug when they need it, or even helping out by raking leaves or shoveling snow for a neighbor.

Rowland’s school project includes acknowledging those who are working to pay it forward. A bulletin board has been set up in the Frederick School lunch room where students can see what other students are doing for pay it forward challenges, according to a news release.

Fredericks School’s Genius Hour classroom concept was modeled after Google’s 20% time management philosophy.

The Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, encouraged their employees, in addition to their regular projects, to spend 20% of their time working on what they think will most benefit Google.

Genius Hour is a way for students to take an idea or concept that they are interested in and spend time creatively exploring it, according to the news release. Other Genius Hour projects include an anti-bullying campaign, robots, smart cars, influences of medieval culture, ninjas, and animal abuse prevention.