The newest social trend at Ooltewah Middle School is #kindness

A locker at Ooltewah Middle School is covered with encouraging notes placed anonymously by students. The notes were inspired by random messages of kindness students wrote on cans collected for a school food drive. / Contributed photo by Jamie Stephens A locker at Ooltewah Middle School is covered with encouraging notes placed anonymously by students. The notes were inspired by random messages of kindness students wrote on cans collected for a school food drive. / Contributed photo by Jamie Stephens

By Emily Crisman December 24, 2019 2 min read

Stay strong.

You’re not alone.

Hamilton County kids care.

These are just a few of the phrases Ooltewah Middle School students wrote on the canned goods they donated for a recent food drive organized by the school’s Beta Club.

Photo Gallery

Ooltewah Middle School’s #kindness trend

Mysterious anonymous notes that appeared on canned food donations have sparked a movement at Ooltewah Middle in which students leave encouraging notes on random lockers. / Contributed photo by Jamie Stephens

Members of the Ooltewah Middle School Beta Club display food collected during a recent drive they organized. Students wrote anonymous notes of encouragement on the cans, which sparked a school-wide movement of randomly sharing kindness. / Contributed photo by Jamie Stephens

“When [word of the messages] started to get out, people started to drop by my room because they wanted to write messages,” said school counselor and Beta Club sponsor Jamie Stephens.