Karma for Cara Microgrants help fund exceptional service projects led by youth 18 and under to better their communities. Read about S.T.A.N: Students Taking Action Now. S.T.A.N. consists of 34 high school students who teach anti-bullying lessons to elementary school students. 

1. How did you become involved with S.T.A.N.?       

Seymour High School Student Leadership students six years ago decided they wanted to work on bullying and character development in our elementary schools. They created S.T.A.N. (Students Taking Action Now), and it continues with more student leaders than ever, as students choose it as an elective course.

2. Why is your work important to you?

S.T.A.N. is a never ending project for us. Each year we continue to teach these children about bullying and how much of an impact it can make if we eliminate it. To me, this year has gone well. The kids are so excited to see us come and look up to us. They have goals that they make for themselves of what they can do to help improve our school, and they have so many stories to tell us how they stood up for someone, or maybe something as simple as picked up someone’s pencil when they dropped it. They have come a long way from the beginning of the year in our eyes, and they now have a whole new view on what they can do to help stop bullying.

3. How did the money from the microgrant help with your project?

We were able to purchase the books that we wanted and use to teach the third and fourth graders. The grant also paid for our supplies for rice krispy treats which we made for the kids on the last day.

 4. What message of giving back do you have for others?

Giving back is worth it, because we can see how our efforts make a difference and we enjoy how much the elementary students look up to us and are excited to see us.