Linking together as one, West Delaware High School participated in World Kindness Week.
The student council decided on three events for the week: teaching a homeroom lesson on thankfulness, partnering with the town to rake leaves, and having a kindness chain competition.
“We thought it would be a unique and fun way to get students involved and spread kindness simultaneously,” student council advisor Jamie Smith said.
Grades competed throughout the week to see who could get the longest kindness chain by the end of the week. Teachers gave links to students who were caught doing something kind. The freshmen ended the week as winners.
One freshman, Sofia Schulte, received a link from teacher Helen Temeyer. “Out of the blue, Sofia complimented my shirt one morning,” Temeyer said. “She made my day because no one normally pays attention to what teachers wear.”
Some slips were earned with something as simple as helping out a classmate.
“I gave Ethan Timmerman (11) a link after he finished his project early and went on to help another struggling student,” teacher Becky Bardgett said. “It’s a small gesture that makes a big impact!”
Other students were rewarded for acts of kindness they always do, competition or not. Teacher Michael Mullis gave a link to freshman Jesse Thurn for sharing chocolate chip cookies with his entire class.
“I am positive he was not even thinking about the kindness chain,” Mullis said. “He was just doing it because that is who he is.”
One sophomore was given a kindness link for helping clean up in his classroom.
“He took leadership in cleaning up our entire kitchen with a positive attitude,” teacher Melissa Hauschild said.
Even when the student was done cleaning up his mess, he noticed other students hadn’t cleaned up their parts, so he helped them without complaining.
“There weren’t very many of us here so the right thing to do was to keep helping,” he said.
