Students and staff nervously filed into the conference room. Without a word, they all sat around the table as instructed. They all ate their lunch of pizza and various snacks. Finally, after weeks of writing to an anonymous person sitting at that very table, they went around one by one to reveal who they had connected to. 

      Goffstown High School began participating in the KATE project in 2022; however, it did not continue in 2024. This year, 2025, school counselor Denise Fall brought it back. Once a semester for about 7-8 weeks teachers and students pass a journal back and forth anonymously. This year there are ten students and ten teachers participating. One teacher and one student are assigned to a journal. They write a passage and drop it off at the guidance office for their partner to pick up once a week. 

Participants can write about anything in the journal that they want to share. Some write jokes, they ask questions, tell their partner about themselves and their life, doodle, write poetry, song lyrics, and more. Ms. Fall says, “My hope is that students who don’t feel like they have a lot of adults in the building to go to, they’ll feel they have at least one… Stories are powerful, sharing yourself can make a big difference.” Ms. Fall believes open minds means open hearts. By the end of the project the students and educators will meet each other at a lunch and get to connect face to face. 

The Kate project started in Londonderry High School after a school counselor named Kate Sherwood had unexpectedly passed away from cardiac arrest in February of 2021.Kate’s loved ones and people who knew her made it their mission to be more like Kate. The Kate project stands for kindness, asking, telling, and education. Coworkers stated that Kate loved bringing people together, surprises, and sharing with different kinds of people. She was described as pure sunshine. There is also a Kate Sherwood Foundation, created by her husband shortly after her passing. 

When the project started here in 2022 the student council had learned about it through a leadership project. In previous years Senora McKinnon had anonymously made the pairs but did not participate in the journal writing. She believes “The goal of the project is to build trust and create strong relationships between students and staff that might not have connected with each other”  Isabella Bono, a freshman currently participating in the project says “I participated in the KATE project because I thought it was a great opportunity to get to know someone I wouldn’t have spoken to before.”