Kindness, Compassion Move Danbury Fifth Grader to Raise Money for Classmates

Kindness, compassion move fifth-grader to raise money for classmates

When Najiah Tallman, a fifth-grader at King Street Intermediate School, learned that a few of her classmates would not be able to attend their end-of-year field trip because they didn’t have the money, she decided to raise the funds for them.

In February, Naijah handed over $267 to her school’s administrators to help defray the cost for several students to travel into New York City to see “Wicked” on Broadway in June.

The 10-year-old student started raising the money in November with the help of her family, who pitched in by selling candy to neighbors, friends and co-workers. 

“My mom, dad and brother helped me,” says Najiah, who walked around her neighborhood selling candy, while her parents and brother brought candy to work.

Najiah said that she felt strongly encouraged to help due to the culture of kindness and compassion fostered at her school and throughout the district. For the past several years, the district schools have participated in various events promoted by the Sandy Hook Promise.

“We’ve done kindness rocks and ‘No One Eats Alone’ at lunch,” says Najiah, referring to her school’s rock garden and lunch program modeled after SHP initiatives. Naijah has learned through the school activities that helping others is a way of life and she hopes to continue doing good deeds when she can.

“In our class we have classroom guidelines and our teacher tells us to treat others the way we want to be treated,” she said.

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Submitted by Danbury, CT

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