Teacher Wins Award for Free Kindness Curriculum

Neil Lahammer doesn't spend his recess breaks in the teacher's lounge. Instead, he gathers third graders at Burnside Elementary in Red Wing, Minnesota, to plot acts of kindness.

His Kindness Club has earned him national recognition. Drake University's Robert D. and Billie Ray Center just honored Lahammer as the first-ever Kindness 101 National Teacher of the Year.

The Kindness 101 program started during the COVID-19 pandemic when CBS journalist Steve Hartman created videos about kindness with his children. What began as a pandemic project has grown into a free curriculum now used by 100,000 teachers across America.

The program is a partnership between CBS News and Character Counts at the Ray Center. Teachers can access all the materials online at no cost.

Before receiving his award, Lahammer visited Todd Pettit's fifth-grade class at Olmstead Elementary in Urbandale, Iowa. He surprised them with a $500 donation to support their project making kindness kits for Iowa children fighting cancer.

Pettit's students use the same Kindness 101 curriculum. They assemble care packages designed to bring comfort to young cancer patients across the state.

The Ripple Effect

The beauty of the program lies in its simplicity. Children watch real stories about everyday people being kind, then see themselves in those stories.

"There's power because the kids can see themselves in the story. And they want to be like that," Lahammer explained. When children recognize they have the power to make someone's day better, they take action.

A teacher with 30 years of experience called the kindness projects some of the coolest she's witnessed. "It's really neat to see them take ownership," she said.

Steve Hartman also traveled to Des Moines for the ceremony, where he accepted the Pillar of Character Award. His pandemic project has transformed how teachers approach character education.

Any teacher in America can start using the free curriculum today, turning their classrooms into kindness labs where children learn that making people smile is the coolest lesson of all.