[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 93 (Monday, June 11, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1254]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING THE ALFRED E. ZAMPELLA SCHOOL

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                         HON. STEVEN R. ROTHMAN

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 11, 2007

  Mr. ROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the Alfred 
E. Zampella School, whose outstanding work has been rewarded with the 
Heart of Gold Award for the Second Kindest School in New Jersey for the 
third year in a row.
  The Kindness is Contagious program began in New Jersey several years 
ago as a way to encourage students, teachers, parents, and the 
community to work together to perform ``acts of kindness.'' At the 
beginning of the school year, students are taught about the values of 
compassion and generosity; they are then given journals to record their 
individual acts of kindness at home and at school while teachers, 
administrators, school personnel, and parents recognize and reinforce 
these acts. By the end of the school year, these important values are 
integrated into the daily education of students.
  The students in the Alfred E. Zampella School--from the Pre-
Kindergarten class to the Eighth Grade--have performed 53,926 acts of 
benevolence, empathy, thoughtfulness, and compassion in the past school 
year. It is clear by the sheer number of acts, that kindness is truly 
contagious in this school. These individual acts ranged from picking up 
a piece of trash in the cafeteria to a school-wide penny collection to 
raise money for leukemia research. The students not only learned how to 
improve their school community but also discovered the valuable life 
lesson of doing good works for other people--not for the recognition, 
but because it makes another person's life better.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join with me today in 
commending Principal Sandra Frierson, the staff, and students of the 
Alfred E. Zampella School for the tens of thousands of acts of kindness 
they have performed. They are a great credit to our country and its 
steadfast spirit of generosity and goodwill.

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