Emma Heintz and Natalia Podstawka had watched many testimony clips in search of the perfect one to use for their IWitness Video Challenge project. When they found Dina Gottliebova-Babbitt talking about a receiving a smile from a stranger, they knew it was the one.

The two eighth graders from Douglas Middle School in Massachusetts watched testimony in IWitness for the first time when their English teacher, Lisa Farese, assigned the class to complete the IWitness Video Challenge as part of their iCan Change the World project. Heintz, Podstawka and their classmates’ mission was to construct videos showing how they were inspired by testimony in the Visual History Archive to do something ordinary or extraordinary to make their community a better place.

In their video, “From, Your Friend :)” which was named the winner of the IWitness Video Challenge, Heintz and Podstawka showed how they wrote personalized notes to each of the 415 students at their school with compliments and encouragement. They interviewed two students who said the notes were really special to them and made them feel good. In the testimony clip they chose to include, Gottliebova-Babbitt describes how a similar small act of kindness – when a man wearing the yellow Star of David smiled at her the very first time she went outside wearing her own required Star of David – gave her some much-needed confidence.

Heintz said the inspiration for the project came from seeing how her classmates often deal with low self-esteem and tough times in their lives that cause them to lose confidence in themselves. She and Podstawka wanted the cards to be a “little pick-me-up” for the day.

“We wanted to show our peers that we care and that their happiness is important,” Heintz said.

Podstawka added that she liked the idea of making something personalized for each student.

Writing 415 notes wasn’t easy, however. Heintz said it took her three hours a night for three nights to write her cards, and she was careful to make each note perfect. They also had to get permission from teachers, obtain class lists, and distribute the notes, and they didn’t have much time. But finishing the project and seeing how it affected their classmates was incredibly rewarding, they said.

“We were able to watch the students arrive in class and see their reactions,” Podstawka said. “We heard so many positive comments, and were really overwhelmed with happiness. The smiles on their faces made all of the work worth it.”

Podstawka and Heintz said the IWitness Video Challenge taught them a lot about not only the Holocaust, but how they can help others. They learned that you don’t have to do something big to have a positive impact on the community or an individual.

“Both Emma and I are walking away from this with a new outlook of kindness. We realized how easy it is to make someone's day,” Podstawka said. “This project definitely showed us how focusing our energy on others can do so much good, and impact them in way we could have never imagined.”

(In the photo above, from left: Emma Heintz, Lisa Farese, Natalia Podstawka)