The Aaron Project Implementation and Educational Integration Notes

Organizational Context and Background

• Project Representatives and Participants: The meeting includes John, a representative of the Aaron Project, Estee a student intern from Windward School, and school administrators Matt and Kat.

• Mission Alignment: The school is currently navigating a period of shift following a "student loss this spring." Management is entering the upcoming school year with an intentional focus on "belonging," which aligns with the social-emotional goals of the Aaron Project.

• Key Collaborations: John mentions ongoing work and conversations with Maya Ferdman and UCLA regarding the Bedari Kindness Institute. There is also a mention of Davis Meyer at UCLA, though he is currently taking a sabbatical.

Growth and Global Reach of the Aerin Project

• Participation Scale: The project has expanded significantly, growing from roughly $40$ schools and organizations last academic year to an estimated $70$ projected by the coming fall.

• Geographic Footprint: Participating schools are located in diverse regions, including:

  • Los Angeles, California.

  • The Bay Area, California.

  • New York.

  • Montana (where John spends summers).

  • London, United Kingdom.

  • Uganda.

  • Mexico.

• Exposure and Advocacy: John presented a TED-style talk to approximately $1,000$ business leaders at a YPO conference in Chicago in April, which increased project visibility.

• Demographic Versatility: While currently focusing on schools, the project spans all ages from Kindergarten ($K$) to higher education institutions like USC and Pepperdine. John notes that while he is focused on schools, the true audience is "human beings" at large.

Philosophy and Methodology: The "Open When" Framing

• Analog Solution to Digital Problems: The program is presented as an "old school analog solution" to the modern challenges of loneliness and feeling disconnected caused by rapid digital communication (texting, emailing, and phone use).

• The Concept of the "Pause": The project encourages students to take a minute or two to pause and think about the future. It forces an individual to anticipate a future moment when someone else might need to hear from them.

• Closeness vs. Distance: The "Open When" framing creates a unique dynamic of personal closeness combined with temporal distance; the sentiment is personal but not intended for immediate consumption.

• The "Birthday Card" Distinction: John distinguishes this from a standard birthday card. While a birthday card is for "now," an "Open When" letter is for a future need—whether that need arises in an hour, a week, or a month.

• Embedded Kindness: The project aims to elicit the "embedded kindness" already present in students, which John observes through their willingness and enthusiasm during letter-writing activities.

• Technological Simplicity: The project is described as "as low tech as it gets," requiring no assistance from IT departments and minimal disruption to existing routines.

Diverse Implementation Models in Educational Settings

• The "Holy Grail" (Echo Horizon School Model): Implementation at Echo Horizon, led by Peggy, involves weaving the project directly into the humanities and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum.

  • For example, if an English teacher is discussing "belonging," students write letters related to that theme.

  • This also serves as a vehicle to teach formal letter-writing mechanics, achieving two goals simultaneously.

• Mentoring Frameworks:

  • Vertical Mentorship: Older students (e.g., high schoolers) write to younger students (e.g., middle schoolers) during transitional periods.

  • Horizontal Mentorship: Peers writing to peers regarding specific events, such as being nervous about the SATs or athletes writing to teammates before a game.

• Advisory Integration: Many high schools utilize the project to provide structured content for their advisory programs.

• Graduating Senior Rituals: At Windward, graduating seniors wrote letters to meaningful people in their lives and to random fellow seniors to foster community.

Field Report: Student-Led Implementation at Windward School

• Peer Counseling Program: Estee (SD) brought the project to the Windward peer counseling program, where upper school students ($10^{th}$, $11^{th}$, and $12^{th}$ grades) are assigned to mentees in $7^{th}$ and $8^{th}$ grade.

• Prompt Examples: Effective prompts used in this program included:

  • "Open when you finish seventh grade."

  • "Open if you feel unsure about starting high school."

  • "Open if you feel stressed out."

  • "Open if you need to feel some encouragement."

• Infrastructure for Accessibility: Windward utilized a space in the library (the Studio for Writing and Rhetoric). They placed boxes in a conference room where any student could pick up a letter at any point. Counselors were responsible for refurbishing the boxes when supplies ran low.

Educational Integration Strategies and Collaborative Potential

• Advanced Mentors Capstone: Administrators identified the "Advanced Mentors" class within the wellness curriculum as a natural fit for the Aaron Project. This class prepares upper school students to push into $6^{th}$, $8^{th}$, or $9^{th}$ grade wellness classes.

• Academic Peer Tutoring Layering: Kat noted that the project could be layered into preexisting academic peer tutoring structures (e.g., math or algebra support) to address students experience with anxiety or stress.

• Faculty Involvement: John suggests introducing the project during faculty in-service days. Having faculty write to one another—often using the prompt "Open when you feel unappreciated"—builds buy-in and helps staff understand the experience.

• Orientation Events: John is scheduled to deliver a modified version of his TED talk to incoming sophomores at Harvard Westlake during their orientation in late August.

• Intraschool Communication: There is interest in creating a "postal system" between different campuses or neighboring schools (like the lab school) to facilitate cross-school letter exchanges.

• Curricular Spanish Integration: A project led by Luismi previously involved writing letters in Spanish between students and lab school students, focusing on the experience of being bilingual in Los Angeles. This provides a precedent for curriculum-embedded letter writing.

Academic Research and Mental Health Impact

• Master School (New York) Data: A study conducted at this school concluded that close to $80\%$ of student writers experienced a mental health boost from participating in the project.

• University of Montana IRB Study: A high school intern facilitated a formal Institutional Review Board (IRB) study at the University of Montana.

  • The study focused on the impact on recipients.

  • Sample size: $n = 40$.

  • Result: Approximately one-third ($\approx 33.3\%$) of recipients reported a meaningful positive response.

  • Observation: John notes that the act of performing kindness (writing) often shows a stronger statistical correlation with mental health benefits than receiving it.

• UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute Interest: The institute is interested in studying the letters as qualitative and quantitative data regarding kindness. They have discussed hiring a dedicated "Aaron Project Intern" to run campus programs.

Questions & Discussion

• Matt's Personal Experience: Matt shared a story from his senior year at Chaminade. During a class retreat, seniors were given bags of letters from teachers and former graduates. He still possesses these letters at age $47$, illustrating the long-lasting emotional impact and "determinative" power of tangible letters.

• Implementation Resources: John noted that a full implementation guide is available on the website under the "user guide" section, though a more visual version will be sent out soon. A $1$-minute and $40$-second animation featuring characters Tilly (Aaron’s best friend) and John’s son is also available to introduce the project to younger audiences.

• Next Steps: The school team plans to discuss starting with a small-scale pilot. John needs connections at the lab school and mentioned Hanata Williams as a potential contact to follow up with regarding the intraschool postal concept.

• Logistics: The team noted that teachers are unionized and do not return until the second and a half week of August, so formal planning with staff will wait until they are back on campus.