SHS students celebrate 'kindness week,' donate to nonprofit
Students Baxter Pollard, Future Churchill, Olivia Lynch, Mirabella Nizzoli, Eoin Eddy, Erin Eddy, Jacob Gove, Jacob Oliver, Taylor Granier and Livia Owens pose for a photo at SHS with signs they made for Kindness Week
Courtesy of BAXTER POLLARD
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Students at Sandpoint High School celebrated Kindness Week this year by writing notes in “kindness grams” to raise money for Panhandle Special Needs Inc.
The grams, a kind note attached to a sucker, sold for 50 cents each. The students raised around $270 for the organization, said Associated Student Body president Baxter Pollard.
The student body council always does something for Kindness Week, she said. One year she remembers students used clothespins to pin kind messages onto each other.
“One year I hadn’t gotten any until the very end of the day,” Pollard said. “My friend got me one and pinned it on me. It was a really wholesome experience and just nice to know someone was thinking of you even if you didn’t think they were.”
In addition to the kindness grams, the student body partnered with Underground Kindness, a local nonprofit. Students wrote down something kind they had done on “kindness cash,” which they could redeem at Dub’s in Sandpoint for a free ice cream.
Jeralyn Mire, a post-secondary transition counselor at the high school, said students have been celebrating kindness week for at least four or five years. Seeing them make an effort to share kindness is also a good reminder for herself, she said.
“It seems silly that we need to remind people to be kind, but especially with this year, things being so difficult,” she said. “We mean to, but we just sort of get busy in our lives.
Derek Dickinson, SHS assistant principal, said it’s great to see students taking time out of their day to bring positivity to others.
“Kindness Week is always a special part of our year at Sandpoint High School,” he said. “Especially during a challenging year, we all need more kindness in our lives. Even just the smallest acts can go a long way.