One of my favorite things about mine and my children’s school is our motto “Others Before Self” and how the charter truly lives this motto. Each year every student, grades K-12, participate in a service learning project called the Others Before Self, or OBS Project. Each grade level brainstorms, presents, votes on, plans, and executes a grade level OBS project each year. This year Kyleigh’s 4th grade OBS project blew me away.
The 4th grade class chose cancer awareness as their theme for the project, and wanted to create a way for our campus to spread awareness, show love for those families affected by cancer, and more importantly love on and show support for a 7th grade student on our campus who is currently battling bone cancer. Not only did they pick a wonderful cause that hits home for so many people, but they also came up with an amazing plan for execution.
They planned to have the 4th grade wear a different color of socks each day for a week to represent the different types of cancer, to get donations for a gift basket for our 7th grader with bone cancer, and create a slideshow to be played on Friday that has pictures of family members that have been affected by cancer. They also planned a school wide day to wear purple in support of our 7th grader with bone cancer. They came up with the hashtag #ILTexasPurpleFriday to use on social media, and even contacted our local news station for coverage. Seeing everyone in purple on Friday including myself and my students was truly amazing.
One of the most touching things that their OBS project did was give students the chance to see those affected in their school and love them through it. For me the best way they did this was through the slide show they created and showed on Friday to recognize those family members they love that have succumbed to, or survived cancer. Unfortunately, my sweet children have had more than their fair share of family member experience cancer on both sides of the family. These are all their family members that were recognized.
This project is so beautiful because it is truly how we are meant to live life, by putting “Others Before Self”. My children don’t attend a Christian school, but this is totally a Christian value, and I am beyond thankful that my children attend here, and that it’s where I am blessed to work.God shows us time and time again throughout the bible of how we are called to live this motto out. My favorite verse in regards to this is “Love your neighbor as yourself” Matthew 22:39. We are called to love our neighbors, every single one of them; not just the ones that look like us, not just the ones that believe what we believe, and not just the ones that live their lives in the same way we do. This is really the definition of putting others before self, loving them even when they aren’t just like us. We have to remember that “God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control” 2 Timothy 1:7, We need to JUST LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS and know that FEAR IS A LIAR!
Please visit the story ran by KBTX.
Fear is a Liar 
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