Berg Middle Schoolers deliver sweets to public safety officials

Students from Berg Middle School are participating in a “30 Days of Kindness” program as part of the Cardinal Success class and Thursday morning the kids donated treats to the Newton Fire Department and Newton Police Department.

Krista Terlouw is a success coach at Berg and along with At-Risk Teacher Karen Hurt. They teach a class called Cardinal Success, which is designed to help at-risk students start their day off and develop a good environment for them.

“It gives them a ‘soft’ start to their day. The class teaches social skills and builds a family environment, one of acceptance and belonging,” Hurt said.

Children considered at-risk are identified by things like attendance, testing scores and behavior. Once they have been identified as such, they come onto the radar of Terlouw and Hurt.

“If kids aren’t showing up to school that’s a red flag,” Terlouw said.

As part of this class, Terlouw thought it would be a good idea to do some sort of program that would have the students giving back in a multitude of ways, like giving treats to public safety personnel in Newton or other things like saying and doing nice gestures.

“One day I was just like, you know we should do some kind of 30 days of kindness,” Terlouw said.

Hurt added, “We are trying to teach kids to think outside of themselves.”

The pair created a calendar with different acts of kindness on it to show students what they will be doing each day. Aside from the treat donation to the NFD and NPD, the class has been busy with other ways to be kind.

“We made cards for hospitalized kids ... We did that last week,” Terlouw said.

As for bringing treats to Newton’s police and fire personnel, Hurt believed it was a way to show appreciation to those in the community who perform helpful jobs like those public safety.

“We want them to know that that’s a position that we hold in high regard,” Hurt said.

At-risk students from Berg Middle School loaded up into a school van Thursday morning and headed out with donuts donated from Hy-Vee to give the NFD and NPD a sweet surprise for the work they do, something Terlouw and Hurt said is important.

“I think that there are more gaps in the kids’ learning processes than ever before, not anything that they have done wrong,” Hurt said.

Once the students arrived at the station, they met with police officers first who spoke with the students after delivering the donuts. Afterward, they walked to the fire department who accepted the sweets and took the children on a tour of the facilities and vehicles.

“We like them to kind of think about how they want to make somebody else feel besides themselves,” Hurt said. “It is kind to let people know that you appreciate them.”

Terlouw added, “We should probably appreciate the fire department and the police department, that they do a lot to help our community.”

Contact Dustin Teays at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or dteays@newtondailynews.com