THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED: Hood River Middle School brings youth speaker to share kindness message

The free community event will begin at 6 p.m. in the Hood River Middle School auditorium.

Williams, founder of Think Kindness, is on a mission to inspire kindness movements in schools across the nation as he calls on students to create measurable change in their communities. He is energetic and funny and encourages students and communities to think outside the box on ways they can create a ripple of positivity within their schools.

Hood River Middle School (HRMS) is hosting the Jan. 18 community event along with a school assembly and class visits. HRMS Principal Rolland Hayden said, “I am excited that HRMS could bring Brian Williams to our school to share his Think Kindness message. The ripple effect will make our school and community kinder and happier.”

Hayden said the ongoing social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum of HRMS highlights character traits to develop with students. Kindness is one of those characteristics. Every January, over the course of one week, HRMS celebrates kindness. HRMS staff model kindness to their students and encourage them to share it with others. 

The school and community presentations will highlight the immense power a single act of kindness can have and ways a single act can change the way you perceive the world and yourself. In the end, every student will be given a compelling kindness call to action.

During the community presentation, Williams will unpack the scientific impact of kindness and how it relates to students and student culture. But rather than just talk about scientific data, Williams will have the entire audience carry-out acts of kindness during his presentation and leave them walking away with tips, tactics, and strategies to start their own kindness movement.

According to Williams, “Kindness is one of the simplest and most basic fundamentals in life. It is something that is easily forgotten as we become inundated with the negativity that can sometimes fill our day-to-day lives. Sometimes, it takes something simple to make us realize how easy it is to change someone’s life.”

Brian Williams and Think Kindness have spoken to more than 500,000 students and have been featured on the TODAY Show, USA Today, MTV, NBC, and ESPN.