Stories Matching 'College/University' Tag (24)Environment Research New Ideas Public Transportation Children Inspiration Teachers Seniors OnThe Road Grocery Store Money Workplace Animals At Home Anonymous Friendship Kindness Kindness of Strangers Courage Small Acts of Kindness Health and Wellness Generosity Sharing Family Respect Neighbors Reconciliation Smile Cards Advice Good Samaritan Giving Money Giving Ability School Church Youth Collective Arts Creative Kindness Random Act of Kindness Homeless Travel/Vacation College/University Holidays Internet Birthday Sharing Food Emergency/Disaster Community Relationships Paying-It-Forward Coffee Shop/Restaurants $100 Kindness Idea The Almond Paw--posted by twocents, on Aug 11, 2006
comments (5) | email this | print | permalink Invisible Smiles In an Empty Flower Vase--posted by twiceblessed, on Oct 22, 2006 About a dozen college kids gathered around me after a talk on the 'spirit of service'. The theme of the talk was small acts of selflessness; they will not only make someone smile but also shift your entire perspective on life. That instead of obliging the receiver with your act of service, it is actually your privilege to get an opportunity to be kind. For some, these are common sense ideas but college students generally don't think about these things. When you're in college, you're more worried about YOUR grades, YOUR job interviews, paying off YOUR loans, meeting YOUR significant other ... comments (8) | email this | print | permalink "Mahalo Nui Loa"--posted by hiloecho, on Dec 16, 2006
comments (6) | email this | print | permalink Difficult Choices Bear Deep Rewards--posted by guin, on Mar 17, 2007
comments (21) | email this | print | permalink Free Pizza For Class--posted by SmileMU, on Apr 4, 2007 I always wanted to try this. I talked to a buddy of mine and he reminded me of a night class that he had. I always wanted to tag a group of people and so I decided I would tag his class. Everyone knows from student life that when you have a night class, for some reason or another, you always get hungry! So this class was from 7pm to 9pm, with about 25 students, and I decided that I would buy some pizza for the whole class. I walked in after the class had started and delivered the pizza. A bit puzzled, the teacher asked the class who ordered pizza and I explained that I was bringing it on my own will. Everyone looked a little bit stunned, in a good kind of a way. :) She really wanted to give me a tip, but I told her that the only tip I would accept is if they all did something nice for somebody else. I also made sure to leave them Smile Cards and they were all definitely moved by this gesture. comments (13) | email this | print | permalink 87 Year Old Woman Named Rose--posted by Monsieur, on Apr 10, 2007 The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned round to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being. She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?" I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze. "Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked. She jokingly ... comments (128) | email this | print | permalink No Glass Ceiling, Just Blue Sky--posted by Marcy Blochowiak, on Jun 1, 2007
comments (12) | email this | print | permalink Helping A Stranger Get Home--posted by ssn585, on Jun 3, 2007
comments (15) | email this | print | permalink A Blazer, Red Scarf, and Fifty Bucks--posted by FP, on Jun 30, 2007 I have this college friend, Eric. One thing used and still does always intrigue me about him is how he deals with the poor. We have a lot of poor homeless people that come walking around our neighborhood day in and day out, either collecting stuff from our trash to recycle or physically coming to the door to ask for anything. Walking to and from class you pass by at least 4-5 of them daily. Most of the time, the constant rush against time makes me pass by them without noticing, but Eric would always take the second (even if ... comments (48) | email this | print | permalink Thanksgiving Experiment With My Class--posted by Rick, on Nov 23, 2007
comments (12) | email this | print | permalink A Professor's Lesson 30 Years Ago--posted by amosjwaner, on Jul 14, 2008
comments (39) | email this | print | permalink Gearing Up 1st Graders Through Craigslist--posted by katlampi, on Aug 10, 2008 I frequently flip through Craigslist just because I find human nature to be absolutely fascinating. Well, one day I found a post from a teacher looking for help. She taught at a grade school in Oregon, and each classroom got to pick a university to learn about, as a way to encourage the kids to go to college some day. It was a rural school in a poorer area, and evidently a lot of kids didn’t stay on track, so this was an important project to the teacher. Her first graders had picked my alma mater, the University of Michigan, ... comments (10) | email this | print | permalink A Professor's Unforgettable Motto--posted by Norman, on Aug 27, 2008
comments (18) | email this | print | permalink An Unexpected Thank You from 3 Years Ago--posted by jantaigen, on Sep 23, 2008
comments (28) | email this | print | permalink A Traveling Truck of Sweetness--posted by DoNothing, on Dec 15, 2008
comments (21) | email this | print | permalink Keeping Hope Alive For Our Favorite Professor--posted by guin, on Apr 7, 2009 A professor I have worked pretty closely with has been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. It has been devastating for his family and heartbreaking for his students. What made him extraordinary was not only that he was a phenomenal rising star. He had only recently collected the highest honours for young researchers at the White House. We truly admired him for his inspiring personality - as someone put it, "He always has a smile and a kind word for everyone." It is very hard to find someone who is exceptionally intelligent and also a wonderful , humble human being. My professor's family ... comments (9) | email this | print | permalink Generosity That Goes Around Comes Around--posted by KindFool, on Oct 26, 2009 The other day I noticed a young woman, very close to my own age, walking by the store front. I thought she was a student at the local college, mainly due to the fact that she was carrying her books and supplies. She stopped and looked through the window with a somewhat sad look on her face. The next day, around the same time, she stopped by again, the same thing as the day previous. I came to the cafe this morning, after having made a comment of how cold it was outside. The region experienced a drastic drop in temperature ... comments (10) | email this | print | permalink Smile, It Can't Be That Bad--posted by AsianWoman, on Feb 6, 2010
comments (16) | email this | print | permalink Offering More Love, Less Fear--posted by DoNothing, on Feb 16, 2010
comments (14) | email this | print | permalink Moving Creates An Opportunity To Start Giving--posted by monkeyinpajamas, on Mar 12, 2010
comments (13) | email this | print | permalink Three Hours and Three Beaming Smiles--posted by monkeyinpajamas, on Apr 9, 2010 It was a hot weekday afternoon and I was on my way to volunteer at a reading session with visually impaired girls. I got in to a rickshaw and immediately struck up a conversation with the rickshaw driver. The rickshaw driver started telling me the story of his life. He related that he had grown up very poor and he and his siblings didn’t have much. He said he worked very hard so that he could make sure that his children had the opportunity to attend a decent school. He said that there were many nights when he would skip dinner ... comments (12) | email this | print | permalink Carrying a Load With A Big Smile--posted by Jacinda, on Apr 15, 2010
comments (13) | email this | print | permalink Taken By Surprise By A Course In Miracles--posted by monkeyinpajamas, on May 15, 2010 Arriving in a new city last Thursday, I had the strangest first week of graduate school. I fell and broke my leg within 48 hours of arriving there! I was really amazed by the kindness shown by my new roommmate, someone who I had only just met. "We are family now", she said when she found me lying in my room with a swollen leg, unable to move, in a strange city with no family except across three oceans. She took me to the student health center by cab to get my leg examined. The cab driver was so nice and said to me how lucky I was to have ... comments (19) | email this | print | permalink A Generous Gesture That Made A Dream Come True--posted by GreenMBAGirl, on Jun 15, 2010 I had a dream for over a year, to attend the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. I had even reserved a hostel room a year in advance because I so wanted to be there. I had worked very hard to arrange things, but was having trouble raising money for the trip. I asked one of my MBA professors who is connected in investing circles to ask, if I were to write an appeal letter, would he please send it to his contacts? He apologized, because he said there is not much money available right now because of the economy. ... comments (8) | email this | print | permalink
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I had to come on to UC Irvine's campus to accompany a friend to a meeting. In the parking lot, I enlisted him in my scheme with a Smile card and short explanation. We were each supposed to make 1 person smile, pass on the card, and meet up to share the story of what happened. 
I just finished my Human Services practicum and as much as I loved the class and the instructor, I was dissapointed with my classmates. It was a small class - just 12 of us - and the other students took advantage of the instructor's kindness with late work, excuses for not completing assignments, etc.
During the last 3 weeks of class, she was expressing her dissatisfaction and how she was going to have to re-think how she taught the class next semester. I really felt bad for her as she is a great inspiration to me and I could relate to her ... 
I think that while some acts of kindness are easy to do or are done in a sort of planned way, there are other moments that test you.
In the face of hunger, suffering and misery, my mind begins to rationalise and justify why I shouldn't be helping. However, sometimes after the good fight, a sense of compassions wins and I do something. Otherwise my laziness or fear wins over and I just walk away.
Today I faced this kind of choice.
I had walked a bit of a distance from my University Campus to my bus stop. I did not have all ... 
Kindness, as Mother Teresa so beautifully said, is the only language that we all understand. We’ve all heard the saying, “What goes around comes around,” and the following true story is a wonderful reminder of how simple acts of kindness can come back to us when we least expect it.
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was ... 
A few years ago, I was attending a friend's graduation at the University of Oaklahoma. While she was giving me a tour of the campus, she stopped by the student travel office to pick up her tickets.
While we were waiting, I listened in on a student from Australia trying to fix a problem with her itinerary. The agent told her that it would cost an additional $300 over what she had already paid to get an itinerary that did not include a ten hour overnight layover in LA. She didn't have the money and I heard her say she ... 
One winter semester during college in upstate New York., I took an 8 AM history class to fulfill a requirement. It was hard to get up for that class, but about 15 of us met 3 times a week to brave the cold winds and trudge to that lecture in a nondescript classroom.
The professor for the class was an odd fellow. He had flaming red hair, usually looking slept on, and wore galoshes with one pantleg in and one out. He would creep shyly into the room wearing his hooded winter coat , once not even removing the hood during the lecture. ... 
I was priviledged to join a college which not only created an environment for attaining professional qualification but also ensured that each and every student left the college an all-rounded individual.
Most of the colleges in my country were commercially oriented and students tended to come in, have their lectures and off they went. The lecturers in the college I attended always embraced higher ideals and many of the kids coming straight from high school would dread this college on the basis that it was strict. It was no bother to me anyway and I often looked forward to my college days.
One of the ... 
I was on my school's campus the other day and there was an ice cream truck parked right in front of one of the main common areas of the school. Since I had primarily seen ice cream men drive their musical trucks around neighborhoods for elementary school kids, I never thought an ice cream man would circle our campus and come for us, overgrown kids, such as myself. I was intrigued and was prompted to investigate further.
I was quite surprised when the sweet and rather chubby man in the truck called out, "free ice cream!".
I questioned him just to confirm his words saying, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"Free ... 
Six Words That Changed a Life Six words - "Smile...it can't be that bad." - changed Judy's life. Judy is a young woman I worked with some years ago. She was in her late twenties, maybe early thirties, more than a little overweight, and not the most stylish dresser. What was most striking about her appearance was her smile; it was always there. Anyone ... 
Moving away gave me a chance to reflect on my good fortune and it was a wonderful opportunity to give away some of my things.
I’m not rich, but I decided to make sure that what I have an excess off (thanks to the kindness of wonderful friends and family) is passed on to those who really need it.
Once you start, its amazing how much you can do...
1. I donated some clothes which were still in pretty good condition, which used to belong to my roomate or me (partly inspired by the story of Goonj posted by 'Anju73'). I spent a good deal of ... | Home | About Us | Get Involved | Contact us |  |  |  |