Chipman Forest Avenue school's good deeds club thrives

An inspirational school program in Chipman has recruited more than one quarter of the school to help others.

The group at Chipman Forest Avenue School calls itself Mesosynedria, which means "meeting in the middle."

Created seven years ago by students who wanted to bring people together, the club aims to make life a little easier for both students and teachers by doing small acts of kindness.

The group tackles issues from restorative justice to anti-bullying and even has a hugs-and-compliments team.

Students between grades 9 and 11 take part in the group with more than 50 of the school’s 185 students participating in various groups that Mesosynedria oversees.

"When you do something that's really good for somebody else, you feel really good about it," said staff member and co-ordinator Rose-Marie Stewart.

"Everybody loves that feeling. I think that other students see that and they want to become a part of it as well, so it seems to continue on and on and on."

The group does small things, sometimes with big effect.

In October, the group posted sticky notes on 200 lockers after a 14-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy, both students at the school, died in a motor vehicle accident.

The group wrote notes at the school and then placed the inspirational missives on lockers, so that each student had a note when they arrived at school in the morning.

James Beaton, a Grade 10 student, is a new at the school and said he worried there would be cliques until another student recruited him for the group.

"So now I'm co-captain of the blue ribbon group and I couldn't be happier about it," he said.

This week is staff appreciation week and the group made cupcakes for the teachers. But it was the personal message that came with the cupcakes that teacher Elizabeth Andrews loved.

"When you're having a rough day or nobody notices what I do, these things make a difference," Andrews said.