By: John Holt 

Each year Good Shepherd Middle School Math teacher Emily Mason works with her students to make them better people. It is a major reason she elected to join the education profession 18 years ago. Throughout her time in the field, she has had various roles including, Campus Director, Grade Level Chair, Math Department Chair, Middle School Admissions Committee member, new faculty mentor, and 5th and 6th grade math teacher. 

This year, she has added a new title as middle school’s Counting for Kindness teacher. The seventh grade trimester class meets every other day for 70 minutes and has contributed to countless caring acts. Some highlights are wrapping Christmas gifts for faculty members, doing work for Sole Hope (an organization that helps aid people in Uganda to become jigger-free), hosting a bake sale/lemonade stand for Sole Hope, assembling goodie bags for substitute teachers, motivational posters/notecards for Hurricane Ida and Kentucky tornado victims, composing encouraging note cards in snack bags for middle school retreats and more. 

The class most recently partnered with the GSES Disaster Relief & Recovery (DRR) team to raise $4,000 in a five-day span to help feed cattle impacted by the wildfires in Eastland and Comanche counties.  

When asked how do you teach kindness, Mrs. Mason replied, “We are in the perfect environment where we have a relationship with the church and you can build those principles into your classroom and expand on those.” As a part of the Good Shepherd school mission to learn with confidence and serve with compassion, the kindness class has been modeling both in their outreach efforts. 

“Some days you just need a little word of encouragement, even if it is just something you can stick on a bulletin board or hang on a wall,” Mason said. “The world needs kindness every day.”

The class ends each trimester with students completing a project where they choose a non-profit to research, raise money and present information in front of their classmates. 

“It brings so much awareness to organizations we may not know of or have heard limited information about,” Mason said. 

Mason continues to explore more ways for her class to serve the community. While it has been a wonderful first year in her latest venture, she wants everyone to remember what is most important. “Kindness is free,” Mason said. “Kindness doesn't cost you a thing.”