“Here. Let me help you.” 

It’s a phrase heard often in the classrooms at Jacksonwald as teachers work with their students. But on Friday, that phrase was heard coming from Nora Stevens, a fourth grader, who was busy supporting her peers in the autistic support classrooms as they made holiday trees from ice cream cones, green icing and sprinkles. As she rounded the table filled with students who were excitedly spreading green icing on their cones to decorate them festively for the season, she offered encouraging words of support to her friends. “Great job!,” she said to one student. “That looks amazing,” she gushed to another. 

Nora is one of a handful of students who gives up some of her recess time to hang out with students in one of the three autistic support classrooms at Jacksonwald. She started the idea last year after being inspired by a paraprofessional who worked with students with autism—and because, she said simply, she wanted “to be kind.”

“I felt like I could do something,” she explained. “I can make friends pretty easily. And I wanted them to be able to make friends easily, too.”

“She was the one who came up with the idea,” Mr. Matt Hathaway, Jacksonwald’s principal. “She asked if there was a way she could help students in the autistic support classrooms, so we found opportunities for her to volunteer. And then she prompted the idea of getting other kids involved across the school as well.”

Since last year, Nora has joined the autistic support class every Wednesday afternoon–giving up her recess–to help students with activities, classroom routines and positive social interactions. She’s assisted classmates in calming strategies, guided classroom participation and helped with hands-on projects, such as last week’s ice cream cone decorating project. Perhaps more importantly, Nora’s kindness initiative hasn’t gone unnoticed among her peers in her classes: She shares stories of her time in the classroom with others, which has encouraged other Jacksonwald students to step forward to join her in volunteering. “That feels great because I'm helping other kids learn that they can help anyone in the world who needs help,” she said.

Mrs. Robyn Shaffer, an autistic support teacher at Jacksonwald, shared that Nora has become an integral part of her classroom community. “She goes out of her way to greet students, play with them and persuade her friends to be kind and accepting. She participates in our activities, encourages students and is patient when they struggle. She even steps into a student-teacher role to help with lessons. I cannot say enough about her compassion. She is destined to do great things.”

Nora already has an idea of what those “great things” may be: She wants to become a teacher—specifically one who works with children with special needs, which is a role that Mrs. Shaffer thinks that is perfectly suited for her. “She has a heart for this kind of role. She is a remarkable young person.”