Posting kind words

Kindness Week balances out the stress of finals

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Stephanie Lubinksi

Kathryn Creason and Ellie Baker (10) writing kind words on sticky notes during Kindness Week, Dec. 8.

Dragging into school at 7:55 a.m., students enter the building and are greeted with a smile and hot chocolate from StuCo members as they pass the Welcome Center, Dec. 7.

Layla Safi and Jerod Turner, StuCo Kindness Week chairs, planned this year’s Kindness Week to give the EHS family a chance to be kind and make one another happy, Dec. 7-11.

“Kindness Week is basically to just spend a week admiring all of the students of Eureka and just reminding them that we care about them and that they are awesome,” Alexis Grossnicklaus, StuCo president, said.  

Each day during Kindness Week there was a different event that occurs to make the students just a little bit happier than they were before:

  • Monday: The Kindness Week committee and StuCo members passed out hot chocolate to all the students or teachers.
  • Tuesday: Students wrote/gave a compliment on a sticky note to a friend at the StuCo table at lunch.
  • Wednesday: StuCo members handed out small packages of gum and a little suggestion to give a piece of gum and a compliment to another.
  • Thursday: A school-wide scavenger hunt took place throughout the day so students could get involved in the community and look forward to a little fun. Students snagged the four-inch suns taped throughout the school and got a little treat when they turned them in.
  • Friday: Not only was Festive Holiday Sweater Day, but there was a compliment wall where the students wrote the name of a friend and a compliment down.

“Kindness Week is the week before finals and it’s just to help the students relieve their stress so they’ll have something to look forward to the next day,” Safi said.   

With finals week coming  up, it is inevitable that students will be stressed. Anxiety is common when students are expected to take tests, and it can affect their overall performance.

Although some types of anxiety are diagnosed, the students of EHS can still experience worry or be troubled with a strong fear that interferes with their normal everyday life when finals come up. When troubled with anxiety before finals, the students can become restless, irritable and have unwanted thoughts going through their heads.

Around 33 percent of students suffer from test anxiety. That means 33 percent of the student body is having trouble focusing on their tasks, comprehending their information, and even getting enough willpower to even go to school.

In order to take the students’ minds off of finals, the school uses Kindness Week as a nice and fun distractor.

Turner explained that Kindness Week is not only a time for students and teachers to spread kindness throughout the school with the different activities that StuCo has planned for them, but it’s a chance for students and teachers to turn a new leaf within themselves and be more kind to others.

Not only is Kindness Week used as a stress reliever, but it also give students the chance to be more kind and make a difference in someone’s life. People are learning that one small act of kindness can change a person’s whole day.

“I feel like it just makes everyone just a little bit happier during the week because it’s just fun,” Zoe Rich (11), said.

This week in particular is enjoyed because students have something to look forward to and school seems more easy going. Since finals week is going to be a stressful time, it’s nice to have a chance to have fun before the chaos.

“Kindness Week helps me think about others, help them out and be kind to others,” Noah Cross (10) said. “Since Kindness Week falls during the holiday season, it makes me think about giving to others with the Holiday drives. I will also be kind to others by giving out compliments and then helping out people in my class with their work and my friends with their finals.”  

Kindness Week was a time for people to reinvent themselves. It can be a chance to be nice to someone you don’t talk to or to just simply make someone’s day.

“In smalls ways and big it’s nice to just show random acts of kindness to one another,” Mr. Andy Gensler, StuCo sponser, said.  

By giving a simple compliment, or helping someone out on a problem they do not understand, a student or teacher can make someone’s day just a little better than before.

No matter what situation a person may be going through, any act of kindness can make things better.