During the spring 2021 semester, students in Kansas State University’s LEAD 499: Advanced nonprofit leadership class created and completed a series of grant-funded projects that developed their leadership skills, taught them about the value of creating positive change in their community, and engaged Manhattan, Kansas, residents of all ages.
In the Nonprofit Leadership Certificate, a program delivered through the Staley 
School of Leadership Studies, students study all aspects of exercising leadership in nonprofit organizations, often through experiential projects and service learning. This includes learning about designing an effective organization, engaging volunteers, setting mission and vision, funding ideas, and much more.
Essential to many nonprofit organizations is funding from grants—usually foundations or governments. As such, many nonprofits want to hire employees skilled in grant-writing. Through this project, students engaged in the real-life grant process. Rather than solely study it in the classroom, learning happened through doing and through service.
Students in LEAD 499 applied for and received four grants from the Hershey
Heartwarming Young Heroes Grants, which are administered through Youth Service America (YSA). The purpose of this grant program is to “build meaningful connections and create more inclusive, empathetic, and kind communities.”
They divided the class into four groups, each with a project centered around Global Youth Service Day. Through these projects, they engaged a large and diverse array of community partners in Manhattan — from elementary schools to assisted living facilities.
The combination of the students’ hard work and the support of Hershey’s and YSA enabled the LEAD 499 class to bring funds into the community to spread kindness, understanding, and empathy through their group projects.
Each of the four projects are described below:
Group One
Students worked with a kindergarten class in an after-school program at Seven Dolors School. Prior to meeting with the the class, they created a lesson plan around the book Why Am I Me? as well as a hands-on activity where the class could show and spread kindness to others. On Friday, April 23, they Zoomed into the classroom and read the book to the students. Afterwards, the class helpers facilitated the discussion using prompting questions students had created, and the students painted two banners that showed things that make people feel fully alive and fully themselves. This poster was hung up on the fence in front of St. Isadore’s church in Manhattan, Kansas, to spread kindness and to prompt the community in thinking about what kindness means to them and how they can spread kindness to those around them.
Group Two
Through this project, students hoped to make a positive impact on the community by building kindness and connection. During the COVID-19 pandemic, where community involvement has been postponed or socially-distanced, the project gave students the ability to see their community impact in action. A study in the journal Social Science and Medicine compared happiness to level of volunteering. The odds of being “very happy” increased 12% for people who volunteer every two to three weeks. The likelihood of continued community involvement was exponentially higher in frequent volunteers.
This project gave youth the opportunity to be active in their community and build a pattern of volunteerism and empathy that has been shown to make individuals happier, and more involved in their community in the future. To do this, the group delivered supplies for a classroom at Bluemont Elementary in Manhattan, Kansas, to create a banner and answer the question, “What does kindness mean to you” on small slips of paper. The group collected responses and spelled out the word kindness on the fence at the school. They also fulfilled a wish list of items requested by the school in another demonstration of giving and kindness for the children.
Group Three
This group created a community event called ‘Sketch, Stretch, Sips, and Sounds’ to promote mental health awareness and activities to improve mental health in youth in Manhattan, Kansas. At this event, they distributed sidewalk chalk to write or draw throughout City Park (Sketch), a youth volunteer yoga instructor teaching short yoga and mindfulness session (Stretch), complimentary drinks including water and lemonade (Sips), and mindfulness music playing throughout the event (Sounds). There were also mental health community resource booths during the event for participants to learn about where they can reach out for assistance if needed. Finally, there was a raffle that participants could enter to receive a mental health basket full of activities to promote mindfulness and de-stressing.
Group Four
The final group focused their project on empathy-building among college students in the LEAD 212: Introduction to Leadership Concepts class. Students partnered with the instructors to lead a facilitated activity for approximately 150 students that sought to deal with issues of mental health and social isolation that K-State students are feeling even more now because of the global pandemic. Through the activity, students utilized Hershey’s chocolate bars to demonstrate the impact of COVID-19 on youth. The participants were then given additional chocolate to “pay it forward” by spreading kindness to others in their life. We hope that our efforts with the support of the Staley School, YSA, and Hershey’s brought light and kindness to people during this difficult time.
