Kicking off Kindness Week with a cleanup of the Kindness Garden

Jewish Academy of Orlando students, faculty, and alumni participated in a cleanup of the school's beloved Kindness Garden. Participants weeded the entire garden and trimmed back the trees and bushes. From the youngest participants to the faculty and parents, everyone was able to lend a hand to kick off the school's Kindness week.

The garden, which is a segment of the campus playground, was created by the 2019 graduating class and funded by a grant that incorporates fine arts into the school's Judaic Studies program 

The Kindness Garden or Gan Shel Chesed is an artistic and natural garden with words and messages of chesed (kindness). Filled with ceramic and natural flowers, stepping stones with positive messages, a mensch bench, and an olive tree to represent peace, the garden was deliberately designed to be a beautiful place for the students to relax and build friendships.

The activity kicked off Kindness week at JAO. As part of the school's, Positive Education curriculum, students learn about a different character strength each week  

Here are a few sneak peeks from the clean up.