When Hannah Robinson goes for lunch each day at school, she never picks the shortest line. She always picks the one Betty is working.

In Betty’s line, Robinson knows she’ll get more than a scoop of goulash — she’ll get friendly conversation and a warm smile.

Through the Kindness Unites Us project, ninth-grade English students at Southwest Junior High School were asked to write essays about people who had exhibited kindness and touched their lives.

For some students, it was an aunt or an uncle, a coach or a camp counselor.

For Hannah Robinson, it was her lunch lady at Southwest, Betty Farran.

“You can always count on her to brighten your day,” Robinson said. “She’s kind of like a grandma.”

In her essay, Robinson wrote that Farran’s “blitheful spirit exudes throughout the whole lunchroom.”

During their casual encounters in the lunch line, Betty shares stories with Hannah about her children or a recent trip to the casino; the two also talk about Kansas University basketball.

“Last time I proved her wrong. She didn’t think we’d beat Arizona,” Robinson said.

Lunch lady Betty Farran, left, hands a flower to Hannah Robinson after the Kindness Unites Us recognition ceremony at Southwest Junior High School. Ninth-graders chose people from the community who had changed their lives through kindness.

At a recognition ceremony Wednesday night, students presented the essays to those who changed their lives and thanked them personally.

In 212 Kindness Unites Us essays, students chose people from seven different countries — including Switzerland and Iran — 15 states, and more than 20 towns and cities in Kansas.

Teacher Amy Weishaar started the Kindness Unites Us program at Southwest last year after hearing about a similar project at Washburn Rural Junior High in Topeka, where her mother teaches.

Teachers encourage students to think about the little things people do to show kindness and exemplify desirable character traits, Weishaar said.

“This is a chance to stop and think about people who may not realize how they helped a student through a problem,” she said.

Only a few criteria limited students’ choices: The individual had to be older than 18, not a parent or grandparent, and someone the student knew personally, although one student was allowed to write an essay about former president Jimmy Carter.

His people called to say he wouldn’t be attending the ceremony, Weishaar said.

Some students chose people who had spent considerable time investing in their lives. For Ray Segebrecht, that person was Jeremy Zimney.

“He makes me feel like he has hope in me,” Segebrecht said.

The two met each other through an athletic program Zimney offers to improve in cross country running. But Segebrecht said he learned more from Zimney than just running skills.

“He also helps me become a better person. He’s always making people feel good about themselves,” he said.

Zimney, director of the athletic acceleration program at TherapyWorks in Lawrence, said the learning was reciprocal.

“Ray puts a lot of things into perspective,” Zimney said. “He comes in and works his tail off and always has a smile on his face.”

Zimney said receiving the invitation meant a great deal to him.

“It was one of the biggest honors I’ve ever had,” he said.

The recognition ceremony was originally scheduled for a month ago, but was canceled because of inclement weather.