By Eleanor Emlen Healthy Roar reporters | Building community can start by showing empathy, the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences,” Merriam-Webster.com says.

There are many benefits when members of a community show empathy, according to Harvard University’s Making Caring Common Project. It impacts the person you’re empathizing with, and helps build the community by lowering bullying and improving grades and behaviors.

Healthy Roar reporters spoke with Dr. Pearl English, Emlen school nurse, about empathy. Their interview has been lightly edited.

Question: How do you define empathy? What does it look like and sound like?
Dr. English: Empathy is what the other person is feeling. It’s different from sympathy. You have to understand what the other people are feeling and/or their pain. If someone fell and hurt their knees and you fell, you would understand what they are going through.

Q: What are some ways our school is working to help students build empathy?
Dr. English: Our school is helping students by modeling empathy. Teachers can teach it in the classroom. We do it by listening to you when you are talking about what’s happening at home. For example, when your parent is sick, we listen and understand how you’re feeling. We empathize with you and understand what you’re going through.

Q: What can students do to show empathy?
Dr. English: If you see another friend bullying another student, you think about how that other student is feeling. You can help stand up for your friend in the situation. You could stop the bully from hurting your friend.

Q: How do you think empathy helps to prevent bullying? How does it help the school climate?
Dr. English: When you can empathize with others feelings, you will want to stop them from doing or saying something mean to other people. It will make people nicer and help you be friends with others. If we all show empathy, we would have a better climate.

Illustration by a fifth-grade Healthy Investigator reporter, 2023–24.