On Wednesday, November 13th, SWHS’ Interact Club recognized World Kindness Day. This is their second year celebrating the day at SWHS.
In the past, South Windsor has used Unity Day, an anti-bullying day of awareness created by the organization PACER, to promote kindness in the school community. This year, Unity Day was not celebrated at SWHS during the month of October, so the school will now be primarily acknowledging World Kindness Day in November.
World Kindness Day was created by the World Kindness Movement, a non-profit organization founded in 1997 that works to spread kindness internationally by uniting countries. The WKM is made up of representatives from over 27 countries working together to inspire peace and cooperation.
The holiday will be celebrated throughout the district in every South Windsor school, and the Interact club, run by Mrs. Lindsay McGinn is responsible for incorporating this day into SWHS student culture.
“This will be Interact’s 2nd annual “World Kindness Day” initiative. On Friday, November 15th, during all four lunches Interact Officers and Interact volunteers worked to market and gather what we call ‘Kindness Communications’,” McGinn explained.
The Kindness Communications are small slips of paper where students and staff can write a message to someone in the building.
“The slips can be used to send a compliment, an encouraging word, positive affirmations, or just a friendly hello! The idea is to take a moment to spread kindness and produce smiles,” McGinn said.
The Kindness Communications are free to make and free to send, meaning participants can send as many slips as they like to members of the SWHS community who inspire kindness and unity.
Interact delivered these slips to students and staff during Bobcat Block on Wednesday, November 13th, the official date of World Kindness Day.
Additionally, Interact spread the message of kindness through the halls of SWHS on Wednesday by posting notes around the building.
“On the morning of Wednesday, November 13th, Interact Volunteers gathered to create positive affirmation post-it notes that were posted around the school for students to take with them throughout the school day. Post-it notes were up by 7am,” McGinn stated.