In Kenya, one of the stipulations for getting a basic education is owning a pair of shoes. With an education comes a chance at leaving poverty. With the end of the Chardon High School Think Kindness program came 5,018 second chances at life.

ChardonHigh School enlisted the help of the community to achieve the goal of 2,500 pairs of shoes in a competition with a school in California. The drive kicked off with Joe Connick’s signature trash talk in a video sent to this school. With an energetic student body the school was ready to go.

While a series of snowdays may have eliminated other student body’s motivation, Chardon kept strong. A wall in the cafeteria was dedicated simply to keeping track of each grade’s progress. Even now the wall remains up as a reminder of how well the community did.

“I felt good about the entire ordeal,” sophomore Olivia Weisenbach stated enthusiastically.  “I really felt like we, at Chardon, made a really big difference and influence on the Kenyan children. I feel like we spread One Heartbeat even to the depths of Africa.”

Not only were shoes collected, but also jeans. These jeans went toward homeless teens. 358 gently used pairs were collected as part of this initiative.

The movement was in response to the tragic events of February 27^th, as a way to give back to the community, both local and world. Also, this campaign helped to show the world that ChardonHigh School is a leader in coming back even when all odds are against it.

After the campaign, many students remarked on the noticeable uplifting environment in the school. Many challenged themselves to keep strong with the Think Kindness Movement and to continue being nice to one another. On the social media platform Twitter, many students took to tweeting to share their opinions on making sure One Heartbeat continues throughout the rest of their lives.