By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Random acts of kindness have not gone unnoticed at Union City Middle School.
A celebration of such was fittingly held on Valentine’s Day, with students and staff joining in to acknowledge the many kind gestures that regularly occur in the hallways and classrooms of UCMS.
School administrators and teachers handed out more than 400 hearts to students observed extending random acts of kindness to others during the first two weeks of February.
Students wrote their names on the hearts, which were then placed in a jar for a prize drawing held on Valentine’s Day.
Additionally, teachers from each grade chose students from their grade who had been model UCMS students while going above and beyond in extending kindness to others.
Valentine’s Day drawings for prizes were held for those honored students, who were acknowledged during announcement periods and had their photos posted in the cafeteria on the announcement board for the remainder of the student body to see.
Over 30 names were ultimately drawn from the collection of hearts, with those students allowed to select a prize provided by UCMS. The school’s PTO provided a drink and a snack to all students, as well as a heart sticker to celebrate the occasion.
Assistant Principal Cole McAdams credited longtime school secretary Amy Martinek and UCMS special education teacher Cristina King with the idea and insisted the project was “just an example of the kind culture we have here at Union City Middle School.”