JAM Presentation
On Wednesday, February 27, 2019, the JAM girls presented at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. They did a great job talking about how JAM originated, some of the products they’ve produced, and their #bethekindkid t-shirts.
When the girls weren’t presenting, they were listening to Sharon G. Flake talk about her writing process for the 20th Anniversary of the Skin I’m In. Flake offered advice applicable to writing, but also life. “I’m somebody who never imagined I’d do this,” Flake said. “There are two sides to my personality – one side is that I am scared to death and the other is I jump into the water and start swimming. If I had to wait until I was not afraid, I would not do anything.”
Flake offered the students wisdom as a veteran author, paralleling real life. “[How I develop a character] its whatever feels right; they don’t always have it easy. If everything was easy, you’re not going to grow as much,” Flake said. “If characters didn’t have troubles, you’d be bored reading about them.”
Kindness Initiative
On Friday, March 1, 2019 JAM attended a kickoff meeting for the Pittsburgh Commitment to Kindness initiative at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. This is a collaboration project with the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and JAM Enterprises.
The day was filled with kindness activities, heartfelt stories, and a video of the JAM girls. One of the kindness activities was meant to help everyone understand kindness in our communities.
Red = what is happening | Blue = want to happen more
What does kindness look like in your community?
We were challenged to understand the seven types of kindness.
Compassion
Generosity
Gratitude
Inclusiveness
Integrity
Respect
Self-Care
The group’s version of kindness involved putting others first, giving – not just things you don’t want any more or have an abundance of – listening, including others, and showing compassion.
An interesting point was made, “compassion=empathy that implies action”.
This kindness initiative is a response to JAM inspiring other schools to participate. Representatives from Bellevue Elementary, Avalon Elementary, New Castle School District, and Elizabeth Forward School District that attended the cohort are piloting the JAM programming for other schools, which will tentatively be available fall 2019.