North Merrick School Hosts International Day of Happiness

MERRICK, NY - Students at a North Merrick Elementary School recently celebrated the International Day of Happiness thanks to the efforts of one of the students.

When Old Mill Road School third grader, Danielle Gordon, heard singer Pharrell Williams was turning his song "Happy" into a children's book, she asked her mother, Michelle Gordon, if she could write to him to ask him if she could help him write his book.

"Who better to write a children's book, than a child?" she told her mother.

In their research, Danielle and Michelle discovered that Pharrell, along with the United Nations made March 20 the official "International Day of Happiness."

This led Danielle to ask Old Mill Road School Principal Laura DeLuca if her school could add International Day of Happiness as an event/day at school, to which she received an immediate "yes".

With that, Danielle has made a list of activities for the day with the school which included writing Pharrell a second letter to ask him to come to the school to perform "Happy" and starting a YouTube channel to spread the word.

On the Day of Happiness, the school's halls were decorated with posters of each grade with a happy saying with a picture of each student doing something that makes them happy, according to Michelle.

Along with the photos, she took Pharrell's book and created posters out of the lyrics of his song and excerpts from his now book, and put those around the halls too.

Each student received "a quart of kindness" and each class had to write something nice about everyone and fill their buckets with compliments and kind words.

As each student came into school, there was a happy face sticker and a post-it on their desk. The post it was so each student could write something they like about themselves and add it to their bucket, according to Michelle.

In addition, the school has ordered and will install two Buddy Benches, that way if someone doesn't have anyone to play with, or simply doesn't want to play a game their friends are playing, they can sit on the bench.

When a student notices someone on the bench, they have to invite them to come play with you, according to Michelle.

As the students took a tour of one of the benches, there was a "contract" that read, "Happiness Happens Here/ No Bullies Allowed" which each student signed in acceptance of the motto, Michelle said.

The contract will be laminated and hung in the hallway.

Also throughout the day, DeLuca and other staff members went to each class to help everyone made their own stress ball, the kids each wrote a nice note or kind word to describe their teacher, made posters and surprised the teachers as they walked into school with their poster filled will nice messages from their students.

The school also hosted an assembly where everyone made a happy emoji face and the band played Pharrell's "Happy."

"The assembly brought me to tears," Michelle posted on Facebook. "Danielle was asked to get on stage and introduce assembly. My little shy girl asked if I could go with her. As she welcomed everyone to the first annual International Day of Happiness, she asked if everyone had a great day? With the screams of yes, she asked if they were Happy? Response: Yes."

The school's Superintendent presented Danielle and Michelle with an award for all of their work in creating the day.

The school also raised money to donate to the charity Reason2smile, which helps support schools in Kenya and Danielle hosted her own fundraiser, donating $250 to the organization.

A total of $1,000 was raised.