Bryan Skavnak, the founder of Be the Nice Kid who refers to himself as the happiest golf professional in Minnesota, recently made his way to balmy south Mississippi on one of the colder days the first week in December. While others were in coats and boots, he sported a short-sleeve T-shirt and was “very comfortable.”
Skavnak was in town to speak with middle school students in the Lamar County School District over the course of two days.
But his introduction to the students at Sumrall Middle School came long before he arrived in town through some of his inspirational quotes, which were placed in the halls around the school.
The signs were courtesy of Sabrina and Richard McDonald, who have one child in the district – Barrett at SMS, and a younger son, Miller.
During the summer, she visited with SMS Principal Terry Smith and they talked about how well students respond to encouragement and support from their teachers.
“I’ve walked the halls of public schools as a student, teacher and administrator,” McDonald said. “I’ve witnessed children being rude and unkind to classmates and I’ve witnessed children showing a great deal of compassion and empathy for classmates. I’ve seen them cheer on friends and applaud strangers.
“When I asked Mr. Smith what his ideas were (to foster such acts), he immediately took out his phone and began showing me quotes.”
He sent some of his favorites to Sabrina, who looked over them with her husband.
She then called on a friend to help make a vision become a reality.
“We wanted to display large signs/banners of encouragement throughout the school (Sumrall Middle),” said McDonald. “There is enough ugliness and division in our world. If we can teach our students how to appreciate one another, encourage one another, and be kind to everyone, then maybe those students can touch a few more and those, a few more, etc.”
Enter a cast of characters – Leslie Gonce, Laura Patterson and Brian Skavnak.
“For as long as I’ve known and worked with Leslie, I’ve known that she was a friend with high ethical and moral standards,” said McDonald of the research and permission Gonce does and seeks before moving forward with a project. In doing so, Gonce connected with Brian and this small seed of idea that started on a hot June day in Mr. Smith’s office became a reality and really took on a life of its own.
The banners were made and hung in the halls of SMS and on an outside wall.
“In researching the Be the Nice Kid quote and the author, I knew the program Bryan brings to students would be memorable, fun, and engaging,” Gonce said. “I love Bryan's approach in telling his interesting stories to convey the ideas of being kind, positive, brave and compassionate. Brian’s quote puts into words a very basic, yet hard to consistently grasp, concept – Be the Kind Kid. Kindness Matters.”
Gonce said after working with Smith and the McDonald family on the inspirational artwork for SMS, she was excited that Supt. Tess Smith was interested in having Skavnak come to speak to middle schoolers at all the district’s middle schools.
Gonce’s business, YourStationeryStop/YourTshirtStop, partnered with Laura Patterson of Accents to sponsor Skavnak’s visit.
The assemblies for students proved fruitful. Through his humorous stories, Skavnak made students see that it’s OK to be different, to like different things or to root for different teams. At the end of the SMS presentation, a student came up and invited Skavnak to attend the school’s band concerts that night.
Meg Stewart, the ICT2 instructor at Purvis Middle School said Bryan’s stories of choosing kindness really resonated with her students as well. “They loved his visit,” she said.
“Having honest conversations about respect and kindness in middle school is something I try to make happen every day. The children we have in today’s world need to know that being kind is still the right thing to do, even when no one is watching or when it comes to social media. I asked my students to take a moment at the end of each day to think of ways they have been kind to others. They loved it and immediately started telling me stories of ways that they are making a conscious choice to show kindness and make their school a better place to be. This generation will be the ones to step up and choose kindness as their mantra.”
