A GROUP of students from a Tamworth high school have taken on a special project with a whole lot of heart.
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The year 10 students from Peel High School, along with their teacher Keya Stevenson, have been studying the text, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
It’s about a man’s journey across New York City listening to the stories of others.
Ms Stevenson and her class then challenged themselves to write letters of kindness to those in need and in a public appeal on Facebook asking for recipients, they have been overwhelmed by the response.
The English teacher told The Leader, there had been more than 100 requests for letters, some from across the world and students had already started writing them.
“We’ve started already, because the kids are super keen to get started,” she said.
“We were absolutely blown away by the support this project has had within the community; not just in ours either, but the wider community of Australia and beyond.
“We have had response as far away as Scotland and the USA and from New Zealand, it has spread like wildfire and we could not be happier about it.”
Mrs Stevenson said she initially shared the post encouraging letter requests via her own personal Facebook page and before long it had gone viral.
“A few people started sharing on their own pages and from what I can gather there had been shares to an Australian teaching ideas Facebook page and from there it got shared further – I don’t have the exact number but they are still coming in.”
Mrs Stevenson said the stories coming in from people ranged from the exciting news of a baby after years of infertility, to people battling serious illnesses, who have lost jobs.
“So now, my students are about to begin the process of writing to these people, each and every one, and giving them something to look forward to, a surprise envelope of happiness in their mailbox,” she said.
“Hopefully, this will make a few people smile and help our students to not only learn the art of letter writing, but also teach them about empathy and the power of one person.”