World Kindness Day at Springfield High School

On Wednesday, Nov. 13, Springfield High School students and staff participated in World Kindness Day, as a reminder that simple gestures can have a widespread beneficial impact.

The commitment to kindness took shape in various forms. Several classrooms completed kindness-themed activities. In Ms. Erica Spirk’s Spanish class, students wrote compliments to their classmates, completed a self-compliment-paper-chain, and added positive messaging sticky notes to lockers in the hallway.

Throughout the building, staff members distributed kindness-raffle-tickets, to students who were "caught" in the act of... BEING KIND. Student tickets were randomly drawn at the end of the day for prizes donated by local businesses, including gift baskets from Raising Canes, Studio B Salon & Spa, Northridge Bowling Lanes, and Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop.

To be clear, World Kindness Day was introduced in 1998 as the project of a coalition of NGOs from several nations. Observed on Nov. 13, this year marks the first time it was programmed thusly at Springfield High School.

About a month ago, long-term substitute Counselor Jackie Robinson was pondering ways to bring up the general mood following observable discord and division in the student body. The bad vibes were demonstrably stirred up by falsehoods spoken on the debate stage by the next president of the United States. The very same words that cost the city of Springfield tens of thousands of dollars were also negatively affecting area students.

Mrs. Robinson knew that World Kindness Day, was approaching and suggested the school come up with programming to honor the spirit of the day while bringing down the social temperature there.

Her fellow SHS Counselors thought it was a grand idea and got to work. Counselors Jill Dunsmore, Amanda Dabrowski, and Kayla Johnson were also part of the enthusiastic implementation team.

School staff members were encouraged to wear their favorite shirts that represent kindness. 

Counselor Nyill Brooks, who is enjoying his first year on staff at Springfield High, explains: "The school counselors got together because we thought it was needed. Our last quarter was insane. Springfield City School District was put on blast, receiving national attention which was not great. Because of that, the other counselors and I started noticing a shift in climate in the school's population. All that lead to a cloudier atmosphere. We felt World Kindness Day would be a great opportunity to go back to our roots of kindness, showing acts of kindness and reminding people that it has a positive impact no matter who you are or what you are going through. You never know what's going on with a person or how much they may need kindness at the moment."

And what does Mr. Brooks have to say about the immediate results of World Kindness Day observance at Springfield High?

"I think the students saw the list of local business who were sponsoring the raffle and that excited and motivated them. Throughout the day we just saw students being good to one another. We saw new friendships being made and we rewarded people for complementing each other. Word spread quickly and I think it went really well. That's what this is all about. It costs nothing to be kind and good to one another. It totally contributed to the work we do in our social and emotional domain as counselors."

There are plans to honor World Kindness Day in a similar fashion next year at Springfield High.

Cue the ripple effect.

According to Springfield City School District Communications Officer Jenna Leinasars, other schools in the district heard about WKD at SHS and were inspired to start planning their own WKD programming next school year.

As she says to Mr. Brooks, "They were like, 'Oh they're doing this at the high school? That's awesome. We want to do our own thing.' So just know that you guys got that momentum going and it's great."