Orion Jean, an 11-year-old Mansfield student, named Time Magazine’s 2021 Kid of the Year
A Mansfield sixth-grader, who was recognized on ”Ellen” last year for his community service efforts, has now been named Time Magazine’s 2021 Kid of the Year.
Orion Jean, 11, who began a campaign called “Race to Kindness” in 2020, has launched various projects. His first, called Race to 500 Toys, was a toy drive that donated over 600 toys to Children’s Health Hospital. Since then, the sixth-grader has organized a food drive that collected more than 101,000 meals for communities struggling with food insecurity and a book drive where he aimed to donate over 500,000 books to students.
In a zoom interview with Angelina Jolie, during the announcement on Nickelodeon’s Kid of the Year TV special Wednesday, Orion told the actress his philosophy is, “If you see a problem, fix it.”
Orion, a student at Alma Martinez Intermediate School, was selected out of more than 5,000 nominees.
“As TIME’s Kid of the Year, Orion will be featured on the cover of TIME and in additional coverage in TIME for Kids,” a news release said. “Each of the five Kid of the Year honorees will receive a cash prize and have the opportunity to serve as a kid reporter for TIME for Kids with exclusive access to a Nickelodeon event.”
Orion was also locally recognized at the Mansfield school district board meeting in late January.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 10:10 AM.
