With a simple phone call for Franklin County, students are making lives brighter.

The middle schoolers created the kind that line where people can call in and hear a positive message and maybe a joke.

What started off as a way to cheer up their classmates after the pandemic has now spread beyond their school.

Hi, guys.

You reached Skyline after your like.

The COVID thing happen.

People are kind of like not connected in everything because everybody was at home for like a year and everything.

So I guess we just felt that we needed to include everyone.

And we just people just needed a little pick me up.

I was just scrolling through pictures on my iPod, and it's all like a picture about, like, something.

And it was about, like, this phone number.

Like, adults would call and they would, like, have like some information.

And I was like, Well, what if we did this for kids?

And we made like a positive like a positive message and like a really funny joke.

Towards the end of the school year, we are I sent out a text message to this day and it was basically about like what she.

She's like when I wanted to start and then they have like a bunch of fantastic ideas and we sort of molded it all together.

They have reached out and said, Michelle, we want to talk to you.

We've got an idea.

We want to we want to share it with you.

And I said, Okay.

So at the end of the year, they came and they shared this idea.

And I was like, Oh my gosh, I love this idea.

And they were like, We just don't know how to get it started.

Over the summer, our tech department called and they were like, We've got great news.

We found an extra line at your school.

This school year.

We wrote our first message and we we did the first call and we just sort of built from there.

AT So it means a lot more like.

When kids say it.

Rather than adults.

Because like the kids, they feel like if adults, yeah, they'll listen.

But they need it like from somebody out there their age so they know like, Hey, I'm going to do this.

Maybe this other kid my age is going through.

To middle school for even us as adults.

Sometimes middle school is the time in our life when we think was maybe the most unkind to us.

And so I think one really amazing thing is that in one of the most unkind times of your life, whether that's being unkind to yourself because you're growing and changing so fast or trying to figure out who you are, and maybe that comes along with being unkind to others that their idea is to do the opposite of that and to try to spread kindness.

And when you're feeling down, remember when you think positive, good things happen.

Matt Can I know?

Jokes always make me laugh and I know they make her laugh.

And so they were like, Well, if they make us laugh, then they'll probably make other people laugh when we just want to see people like calling and having a good time.

Let's get to the joke.

Why did the jack o lantern not cross the road?

I don't.

Know.

He didn't have the guts to, you know, at first kids were stopping him in the hallway saying, how can how can we be a part of the.

Come on.

So that's when they got the idea to do the form, because kids wanted to be a part of what they were seeing, which is the idea of being kind.

We've had 14 people fill out the form, and I think we've had five or six come up and do a message.

Peer to peer attention and middle school is everything at this age.

And so knowing that they can call and hear a peer say something positive to them and give a pick me up.

Adults have said, you know, my child calls it every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and sometimes it's kids that you would not expect that would be be calling online.

And so I just I think it's a wonderful resource and kids are using it.

Have a great day.

Bye.

What a great idea.

The seventh graders are getting national attention for the kind line.

They recently did an interview with People magazine and here they are holding up the issue.

The issue is out on newsstands now.

Congrats to them.