Thomas Jefferson ES School Community Joins in World Smile Day

Thomas Jefferson Elementary School made the world just a little bit better with their celebration of World Smile Day recently.

Fox 5 Weatherman Mike Woods was on hand to help celebrate the event at the Lakeland Central School district school. During the day he visited and talked with kindergarten classes and addressed the entire school at a closing assembly.

The school was filled with smiles as students read 'The Smile That Went Around the World, wrote and drew about the meaning of smiles and how it can be joined with the school and district's ongoing emphasis on the importance of kindness. .

Harvey Ball, a commercial artist from Worcester, Massachusetts created the smiley face in 1963. As the years passed Harvey Ball became concerned about the over-commercialization of his symbol, and how its original meaning and intent had become lost in the constant repetition of the marketplace. Out of that concern came his idea for World Smile Day®. He thought that we, all of us, should devote one day each year to smiles and kind acts throughout the world. The smiley face knows no politics, no geography and no religion. Harvey’s idea was that for at least one day each year, neither should we. He declared that the first Friday in October each year would henceforth be World Smile Day®.