Arrowhead Students Participate in a Month of Kindness
Imagine a world full of kindness. Imagine a world where people commit selfless acts, and imagine a world where everyone pays it forward.
National Random Acts of Kindness day takes place on February 17th, and Arrowhead has chosen this as the monthly theme.
According to The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, their goal is to make 2016 a year filled with kindness by encouraging people to participate in daily selfless acts. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation can be found here.
Brenda King, the Health Occupations, Food and Nutrition, Advanced Food and Nutrition, and Health Occupations teacher, says, “When the different departments discussed some options, it just seemed fitting to include something that is already recognized. Random Acts of Kindness ties in easily to the Arrowhead Way: Be responsible (for example, pick up after yourself and pitch in and help others to leave things better than the way they were found). Be respectful: what better way to show respect than to do something genuinely kind for other people, especially those that don’t always get recognized or for someone when they least expect it.”
There are numerous ways students and faculty can take part in this month’s theme. Students and staff can photos of random acts of kindness and share them on twitter with the hashtag #randomactsofkindness. After an act takes place, students can find pink slips located around the school to write about their amiable acts. If a name is included on the slip, students have the chance to win a goodie bag, simply for being friendly.
Lastly, to support this month’s theme, wear red every Wednesday. Discounts at the North Campus store will be given for wearing this color to match the theme: Have a Heart!
Julie Schwartz, business teacher, says, “Students and staff have filled out the Random Acts of Kindness slips to share what they did. Students and staff have worn red on Wednesdays to show support. Many are participating as they like to help out without sharing what they did. Either way, we hope that everyone is involved in some capacity.”
The Arrowhead Way has also been incorporated into the theme.
Tom Whelan, Technology and Engineering Teacher and Department Coordinator, says, “We have utilized the “Arrowhead Way” to identify ‘Be Appropriate,’ ‘Be Respectful,’ ‘Be Responsible.’ As a school we have placed posters in each room, had shirts made up for all “Wings” Teachers, Mentors, and Students. In addition we utilized coupons in the past to provide students at the end of the year with random acts of kindness,”
Whelan says he hopes this month will make people aware of the kindness they could be showing on a daily basis.
Kathi Koepke, language teacher at South campus, has offered an extra credit assignment to her students in which they can create videos performing random acts of kindness. In the videos, students must speak in their foreign language. This is a way for staff to encourage students to participate in the month’s theme. Click here to view a video two students have filmed.
According to Koepke, she has seen many students going out of their way to be kind, whether that be holding doors open, helping each other with work, or leaving kind notes for others.
Koepke says, “I love the idea of committing ‘random acts of kindness’ and I thought that the idea could be integrated well into my classes. To be a good global citizen, one needs to be nice and caring towards all. Also, when traveling to other countries, one needs to be a good representative of the US and by being kind to the local people, they will in turn be kind to you and have a better perception of Americans. Lastly, with all of the problems in society, I think the world would genuinely be better if we were all just a bit kinder.”
“I think kindness is a great theme of the month. If everyone just did 1 act of kindness a day, the school [world] would be a better place. It’s amazing how good you feel after doing something kind and on the other side, it’s a great feeling when someone does something kind for you,” says Koepke.
“February sometimes can feel like a deary month with cold temperatures; this can be a fun way to brighten other people’s days. So get involved and do a Random Act of Kindness,” says King.
