MEDINA, Ohio — A project started by a Buckeye Junior High School teacher to help better connect students with staff is now helping connect students with other peers. News 5 first showed you The Confetti Project years ago and we continue to follow through on how the program expands beyond a post-COVID-19 world.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
Books have the power to take the mind to new places and generate conversations in ways staring at a screen all day can’t.
For eighth grader Ava Wolf having face-to-face conversations and sharing important lessons with her younger buddies from the confetti project readings is important.
“I have one her name is Nia and my other one is named Addison,” said Wolf. They are very sweet and I love the conversations and the connections we made with each other.”
Jody Keith is the creator of The Confetti Project. The 8th-grade language arts teacher at Buckeye Jr. High started this project in 2022 to help students not feel alone coming out of COVID-19. Eighth graders choose from a variety of books some surrounding grief, faith, or coming adversity, and then pick a staff member of their choice to reach the book with.
“Kids are feeling whether they realize it or not, they are feeling in isolation and don’t know how to look people in the eye and have conversations,” said Keith. “So, they want connection so to put their phones down and to get to choose books about topics that are important to them is really important”
While students still pick a teacher buddy to read a book with, eighth graders are now also assigned younger buddies at the elementary level.
“Our kids get to be the adults in the conversation,” Keith said. “They have to think about prepping and think about the book how they are going to change their wording so the kids understand. It’s their job to make their littler feel like the most important person in the world for those 30-35 minutes.”
President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, Melissa Cropper, said the plan is to expand the Confetti Project to schools across Ohio and the country.
“This is not only beneficial to our students, but I think it’s beneficial to the adults too to get back to having those types of conversations with people,” said Cropper. “We believe that it is something that could be replicated in many other school districts.”
Eighth grader Jules Collins said initially he wasn't interested in the project, but in the end he says it made him better.
“You think it’s hard, but I didn’t want to do it at first,” said Collins. “Then after I met with Ms. Keith, she made it really easy for me to talk with other people”
Keith said, “It’s really rewarding to see them step up and to see the joy it brings these littles we call them.”
This year, The Confetti Project has grown from four classes to 16.
