While athletes are dishing out world-class performances in PyeongChang, students at Wright City West Elementary are holding their own version of the 2018 Winter Olympics.Only teachers and administration hope these performances will instill traits and behaviors for a lifetime.As part of its initiative to encourage after-school involvement by students, West Elementary has implemented several new clubs, including the Kindness Club. When the Olympics began earlier this month, teachers had the unique idea of hosting a coinciding event on a smaller level.Students at Wright City West have been practicing Kindness Olympics — participating in a series of different challenges that teachers are encouraging kids to do related to kindness.“It’s such a creative way of doing something like this,” said Principal Patrick Wallace. “The kids do events like Bingo to determine different acts of kindness they can do, such as holding the door or saying hello to a stranger. It’s meant to help the kids start learning about gratitude and kindness.”The Kindness Olympics kicked off with a visit by the Wildcat mascot for a mock ceremonial torch lighting, followed by an Olympic parade. Over the course of two weeks, a tally is being kept to determine which class and grade levels demonstrate the most acts of kindness.At the conclusion of the Olympics on Feb. 25, a medal ceremony will be held to recognize those who achieved at a gold, silver and bronze medal level when it comes to kindness.Wallace says a recent “profile of a graduate” study conducted by the school revealed that many traits which used to be considered soft skills are now critical in the professional world.“We are curious to see from a quantitative standpoint how this impact our discipline referrals,” said Wallace. “I’m pretty excited to see how this philosophy translates into helping students act the way we know they are capable. Hopefully this can retrain their mindset that everyone is a good kid, but sometimes we just make bad decisions.”Wallace says the school will use these types of projects to determine how to move forward with school initiatives and better determine where students strengths and weaknesses exist.“Moving forward we’re really looking at ways to understand what our core values are and what’s important to their skills,” said Wallace. “Collaboration is so important in helping them learn those things.”Wright City School District logo