Mishawaka High School sophomores are doing good deeds, and getting published for it.

It started out as a first-day-of-school writing test.

“I gave them a prompt that would get me hopefully a safe answer, and I said what’s the nicest thing you’ve ever done for someone else?” said Mishawaka High School English teacher Jessica Mann.

Jessica Mann expected generic answers. Instead, she received stories that moved her.

“We had a veteran’s day get together for my neighborhood, and since I’m in band, my contribution for them was I played America the Beautiful, Star Spangled Banner, and Three Little Birds by Bob Marley,” said one of her students, Micah Washington.

 “I volunteer in the nursery at my Church, and whenever I see a veteran, I go up to them and shake their hand and thank them for their service,” said another student Emily Swartz.

“I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t even read them all at once, because I was like crying when I would read them,” said Mann.

She decided the community should read them, too.

“It was over 120 of my students that are being selfless, and I think our community should know that, because they make a lot of decisions that affect these kids,” said Mann.

That’s why her class put together the book they decided to call ‘Good Teens, Good Deeds.’

“It really showed that not everyone is selfish and everything that we do care about others,” said Washington.

“Just to see how like kids from Mishawaka not all of us are bad and that everybody can do nice things any time,” said Swartz.

This unintentional lesson, Mrs. Mann says, matters a little more than her writing assignment.

“I hope they remember that what they do really matters and that people really care about what they’re doing whether they do it for credit or for not, that people really notice and think well of them,” she said.

Jessica Mann says since this is a book of good deeds, they had to do something positive with the proceeds. The class plans to donate every penny to United Way.

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