Spotlight on the Democracy Project in Columbia Falls, Montana
Columbia Falls High School teens wanted to bring awareness to bullying that has been happening at their school and get their peers to think about how kindness and happiness are intertwined. They connected with the Nate Chute Foundation, a non-profit that provides evidence-based training and educational programs to schools across the Flathead Valley. They provided the Democracy Project team with “The Happiness Project” training which illustrated the science of being kind.
The Democracy Project partnered with the Art Club and Believe Blue. Together the three clubs hosted a Wellness Week with activities, events, education and themed days such as Self Care Day and Pink Shirt Day. There was a Kindness Spinner encouraging faculty and staff to put the strategies into practice like drinking water, telling someone they are doing a good job, and calling a friend. They put into practice what they had learned about the science of kindness, and worked to share that with their peers. An estimated 500 people were involved in some aspect of Wellness Week. The students are hoping that this focus on kindness, as well as information about self-care and happiness, will lead to decreased bullying at CFHS.
Columbia Falls High School Democracy Project has been selected to participate in Democracy in Dialogue, a national civic education virtual exchange program of the Smithsonian Institution’s Rural Education Initiatives.
