Sangre Ridge earns national kindness designation, chosen from 308 schools across the country

Sangre Ridge Elementary has earned the inaugural Kind School Designation from Teach Kindness, a national initiative, becoming the only school in Oklahoma among 32 schools across 18 states recognized for the 2025-26 school year.

The designation — awarded for the first time this year — recognizes schools that treat kindness not as an occasional campaign but as an intentional, schoolwide skill set. To qualify, schools had to establish a shared definition of kindness with students and staff, teach kindness lessons across the entire school, and complete a student-driven kindness project.

"This year, 308 schools took at least the first step toward the designation," said Brandi Watts, national director of Teach Kindness. "The 32 schools announced today are those that completed all requirements and demonstrated a strong, schoolwide commitment to kindness."

At Sangre Ridge, that work plays out through structured lessons and schoolwide practices. Teachers guide students through conversations about what kindness looks like, sounds like, and feels like in their classrooms and across the school — a method drawn from the Teach Kindness curriculum, which includes lessons on distinguishing between playful and harmful teasing, building a gratitude practice, and using social media as a tool for positive action rather than harm.

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The school also runs an annual food drive supporting families experiencing food insecurity in the Stillwater community, and each week recognizes one "KIND" student per grade level for consistently demonstrating kindness in daily interactions.

"Sangre Ridge demonstrated an ongoing, schoolwide commitment to kindness and a strong emphasis on student leadership and action," Watts said. "Their work reflects our belief that kindness is a skill set that can be intentionally taught, practiced, and strengthened over time."

Patzkowski said the recognition reflects the full school community's commitment.

"This award isn't just a plaque for our hallway," Patzkowski said. "It's a reflection of the daily, intentional choices made by our students, teachers, and families to prioritize empathy and belonging. At Sangre Ridge, we believe that academic success and emotional wellbeing go hand-in-hand. When children feel safe and included, they thrive. Counselor Emily Deason does a phenomenal job leading our students and staff to find ways to spread kindness each and every day."

The Kind School Designation is designed to surface what kindness actually means in a given school community. According to Teach Kindness, schools pursuing the designation begin by gathering input from students and staff — using prompts such as asking students to reflect on a moment when they felt genuinely cared for, or to describe what their school would look like at its kindest — and then work toward a shared definition that guides instruction and school culture.

Watts said that framework is what makes the designation more than a recognition.

"The Kind School Designation matters because it provides schools with a clear framework for embedding kindness into their culture — not as an add-on, but as a shared value and daily practice," Watts said. "It also shines a light on the often-unsung work of building safe, supportive, and welcoming school environments and teaching essential skills that are not formally assessed but deeply impact student success."

According to a Teach Kindness press release, the initiative is a program of the Stand for Children Leadership Center, developed in collaboration with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Harvard's Making Caring Common project, and the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. The program has reached more than 10,000 schools across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. since launching in 2017, the release said.

Sangre Ridge was among 32 designees whose students completed hands-on service work as part of the qualification process. Collectively, this year's Kind Schools delivered 800 handwritten notes to local care facilities, collected 1,080 pounds of food, and launched projects ranging from community pantries to cross-grade reading partnerships, according to the release.