DIA students celebrate kindness

DIA students celebrate kindness
Posted on 02/18/2022
Principal stands in front of students in colorful shirts sitting in a gym waiting for their picture to be taken.Grand Junction, CO - On Feb. 16, the entire student body at Dual Immersion Academy came together to pose for a photo proudly wearing their new school shirts to celebrate Kindness Day. Emblazoned on the brightly colored T-shirts were a heart, a bobcat (the school mascot), and the words Viva DIA, Be Kind, Se Amable!

Each element of the design was contributed by a different DIA student: the bobcat came from second-grader Vivian Lozada, the heart was the idea of third-grader Rylor Day, and second-grader Mariana McLaughlin contributed the wording. Together, the trio won a school-wide Kindness Day T-shirt design contest.

"My design represents the third pillar, which the third pillar represents working together," Mariana said.

"I was excited to do this," said Vivian, who spent an hour intricately crafting her bobcat. "It took my quite a while to do this."

The design competition was the brainchild of Dual Immersion Counselor Becca Greene. She said a Kindness Committee looked at all of the designs created by students and blended the three winning designs into one T-shirt design. The committee also awarded six students second place and turned their designs into bookmarks and picked 49 third-place-winning designs to turn into posters to place around the school.

Rylor said it's important be kind all year round, and the T-shirt is a good reminder of that for all DIA students.


"If someone is lonely or needs a friend, go over and ask them...that's always true, but especially this week, we really want to do the extra thing" to be kind, he said.