The nonprofit Think Kindness kicked of a 5,000 acts of kindness challenge at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fairfield Thursday.

According to its website, the goal of the challenge and nonprofit is to inspire measurable acts of kindness in school and communities.

As acts of kindness are tracked over the next 15 days, students will build a kindness mountain. "Kindness here isn't just about saying please or thank you. It's about building respect between the community and all the people in our school and that helps build our family at St. Thomas," says student Ben Devito. Once the mountain is built, the challenge will conclude with a school wide day of service.