Lakefield College School Students Embark on a Quest for Kindness

At Lakefield College School, students are encouraged to embrace their individuality and pursue their unique passions within a richly diverse, caring community. With peers from across Canada and roughly one-third of them from over 45 countries around the world, it’s important that our students establish a strong sense of belonging at school and in the broader community. What better way to do that than by spending a day, working together to achieve a shared goal, make a positive impact, and meet local residents?

On Friday, September 16, Lakefield College School’s 120 Grade 10 students participated in the Kindagious Bike Quest. Organized by a team of LCS Faculty members, including Libby Dalrymple, the Quest gives students a chance, at the beginning of the year, to practice some of the key tenets of the school: Community First, Outdoors Every Day, and Authentic Learning. Roughly 40 percent of our Grade 10 students are new to LCS (and to Canada) and have yet to discover the wonderful things that the Village of Lakefield has to offer. 

The Kindagious Bike Quest encompasses several community-building activities, including connecting with local residents, meeting and supporting local businesses, and effecting acts of kindness for both local community members and neighbouring residents in Peterborough. Students embarked on a three-pronged adventure: (1) to learn more about their surroundings and local businesses so that they feel comfortable visiting them throughout the school year (2) to collect bicycle accessories for bikes that will be donated to children who are a part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program in Peterborough and (3) to perform random acts of kindness and spread positivity throughout the community.

While our Grade 10s explored the village, they took note of the acts of kindness performed by villagers for other residents. Students were inspired by the caring nature of the community as they saw their neighbours hold doors for each other, collect trash off the sidewalk, and flash smiles at each other. With these visions of community freshly impressed upon them, they carried on to spread kindness themselves. Some students purchased items for the Lakefield Food Bank, some started a “pay it forward” line at Tim Hortons, some wrote positive messages on notes that they left around the village, and other students gifted flowers to pedestrians (which offered another opportunity for them to converse and get to know each other). The group was pleasantly surprised by the extra boost of happiness they felt after focussing on kindness and connection and noted the warmth that appeared to emanate from those they interacted with. They felt the spark of joy that comes from establishing positive connections with members of their community. 

Throughout the Quest, students were challenged to collect accessories for the bikes, including helmets, locks, bells, and water bottles, sequestered by local business owners throughout the village—The Chocolate Rabbit, Cheesy Fromage, Angle Iron Chef, and Stuff’d. The scavenger hunt aspect of the Quest offered our students a great opportunity to acquaint themselves with community members, and feel accomplished having achieved their goal by gifting the bikes, replete with accessories, to the twelve children from Big Brothers Big Sisters. 

Kindness is contagious, hence the name of the Quest, which combines the words “kind” and “contagious”. Our students aim to inspire other residents of the village to be kind and pay it forward as well. In reflecting on the day’s events, Ms. Dalrymple remarked, “I read a quote from the Greek fabulist, Aesop that has stuck with me ever since. ‘No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.’ My goal is to instill that mentality in our students, and in turn, for them to apply that mindset in their day-to-day lives.”