Deborah Ferguson

Grapevine Third Graders Promote Friendship

Grapevine Elementary School third graders Aleysa Stephen and Ashley Mitchell love to be on the playground, but they didn't like what they saw sometimes.

Ashley said she and Aleysa sometimes saw kids crying by themselves.

"We would watch them and play with them every day and we saw this really cheers them up," Aleysa said.

Those small victories on the playground convinced the girls they could spread that cheer across campus.

"We decided that everyone could be friends with each other," Ashley said. "No matter what you like or your skin tone, we can all be friends, different or not."

"It's called Friendship Friday," Aleysa said. "And we want everyone to know you can be a friend."

Near the end of their second-grade year, the girls took their Friendship Friday idea and slogan — "Be a friend. Share the friendship" — to their teacher, Natalie Finch.

"They were concerned about not getting along or not being included," Finch recalled. "Sometimes it was themselves in situations, but it was other people, too."

When the girls returned to school in the fall, their new principal, Liz Hilcher, embraced the idea. Last Friday, Hilcher recognized Aleysa and Ashley at a schoolwide rally and challenged the school's more than 500 students to find ways to be a friend. The girls say the rules are simple.

"Always be a friend and never let them down," Ashley said.

"Always have fun with your friend," Aleysa added.

Ashley and Aleysa met in Finch's second-grade class. The more they talked and got to know each other, the more they saw the best in each other.

"[Aleysa's] a really good friend to me," Ashley said. "She loves to be nice to everyone and she's a really good friend to have. She has a very generous heart and she's honest."

"I think [Ashley] can always find the bright side of things and she's so nice to me," Aleysa said.

The girls' moms realized the depth of the friendship and their desire for others to know that happiness, too, when they had a play date to design T-shirts.

"If you can foster the idea of kindness and compassion in a mind so young, it can carry on the rest of their lives," Aleysa's mom Jeena Stephen said. "So I'm really proud of them."

"I was super shy as a kid, and I never talked to anybody," Ashley's mom Sheila Mitchell said. "So to have her reach out and to express herself in this manner, it brings me to tears."

Ashley and Aleysa are only 8 years old, yet they're mastering lessons of compassion and discovering their own friendship in the process.

"We're thinking of making "Be a Friend. Share the Friendship" or "Friendship Friday" go to the whole district so everyone can be a friend," Ashley said. "And we really want GES to be a kind and loving place to all no matter what."

Aleysa has hopes, too, that everyone realizes that every day brings a new opportunity to be a friend.

"You don't have to only make a friend on Friday," she said. "If you see someone, you don't have to wait until Friday. You can just do it any day."

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