Davis High celebrates kindness week

By Kate Macaulay,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Colorful streamers, kind words and uplifting chalk messages were all a part of Davis High’s annual kindness week.

This tradition has been at DHS since 2012, fulfilling all kinds of roles. According to kindness week coordinator Lucy Knudsen, it was established to promote improvements on the school environment as well as organized events to nurture students mental health and benefit the whole school community.

The first major event was the “high-five hallway” during nutrition break on March 12, when the kindness week committee lined up in the hallway by the quad to greet passersby. Passing through, the energy and excitement about bringing kindness to DHS was overwhelming, rewarding everyone who passed with high fives, a smile and kind words.

The next event was a tree planting at lunch in the quad on March 13, but with a twist.

After digging a large hole, placing the baby tree in the ground and beginning to replace the soil, DHS students were encouraged to write something they had to overcome to be kinder to others. The papers were then placed in the ground by the tree, buried there so as the tree grows at DHS, so could kindness.

To finish off the week, students wore yellow, a color that represents happiness and positivity, as a depiction of how our school environment should be.

As a majorly academically driven school, Knudsen finds that students tend to get caught up in the stress of high school.

“Consequently, school spirit dwindles, kids get stressed and we forget to treat our peers and ourselves with kindness,” Knudsen said. “Kindness week is a gentle reminder to take a step back, breathe, and enjoy what we’ve got left of high school.”

As a weeklong event, a lot of planning must go into the activities and decorating throughout the week.

Committee members arrived at school on Sunday to decorate the campus with streamers, chalk and posters, which according to Knudsen takes several hours.

“Planting the tree was also particularly hard because we had to get administration’s approval and make sure we weren’t going to plant it somewhere problematic,” Knudsen said.

Advertising was crucial so that DHS students knew about the events, which was key to pull off the “high-five hallway” and yellow Friday.