This article was written by Kate Quigley, educator at Harrisburg Elementary School in Cabarrus County Schools in Harrisburg, North Carolina. Kate has more than 25 years of classroom experience and is a graduate of Appalachian State University. Harrisburg Elementary serves roughly 850 students and runs The Positivity Project through a four-House system in which each House sponsors its own service projects. Cabarrus County Schools adopted P2 district-wide in 2022.
At HES, The Positivity Project (P2) is more than a weekly character strength lesson — it’s a lived experience. While students learn about traits like kindness, perseverance, bravery, leadership, and teamwork in the classroom, the true impact happens when those strengths move beyond discussion and into action.
As a Global School, HES is committed to helping students see themselves as members of a larger world — responsible not only for their school community, but also for the well-being of others locally and globally.
Through our House System, students are given meaningful opportunities to practice what they learn by participating in service projects sponsored by each House throughout the year. These projects unite students across grade levels, connect learning to real-world needs, and show students that character is not just something you talk about — it’s something you do.
Each House at HES proudly sponsors service projects that reflect both their House values, and The Positivity Project character traits students explore weekly. While each House leads its own initiatives, every project becomes a shared experience — reminding students that service transcends House colors and brings our entire school community together.
Through these projects, students learn to:
Reveur students have long demonstrated compassion and leadership through their annual food drive supporting the local community. This year, that spirit expanded even further. In response to a devastating hurricane, Reveur extended their efforts to support families in Jamaica, helping students understand that empathy and generosity know no geographic boundaries.
As a Global School, experiences like this help students see how service can reach beyond their immediate surroundings and connect them to the wider world. Through Reveur’s work, students lived out traits such as kindness, gratitude, and global awareness, learning that caring for others can make an impact far beyond HES.
In a powerful example of global citizenship, Isibindi students also collected plastic bags and transformed them into jump ropes that were sent to orphans in Honduras. This project taught students that creativity, sustainability, and service can intersect — and that courage sometimes means finding innovative ways to help others using the resources we already have.
These efforts allow students to practice kindness, humility, and teamwork while learning that service often meets basic human needs — warmth, dignity, and care. Through Altruismo’s work, students see that giving is most powerful when it is intentional and heartfelt.
Amistad’s service projects highlight the power of friendship, perseverance, and inclusion. Students have:
These experiences show students that friendship and kindness can strengthen individuals, school culture, and communities near and far.
While each House sponsors its own service initiatives, the impact reaches far beyond individual Houses. These projects reinforce The Positivity Project’s belief that everyone has character strengths — and that those strengths grow when they are used to serve others.
As a Global School, HES empowers students to see themselves as citizens of the world. Through service, students don’t just learn about character strengths — they live them:
When students pack food, clean gardens, write cards, build jump ropes, collect essentials, or raise funds for those in need, they learn a lasting lesson: character matters most when it’s put into action.
At HES, The Positivity Project and our House System work hand in hand to create a school culture where service is meaningful, character is visible, and students understand that they have the power to make a difference — locally and globally — today and in the future.