Spreading Kindness Across Campus

Members of the St. Stephen’s kindness committee kicked off Kindness Week (Nov. 4 to 8) by setting up special "Appreciation Stations" in the dining hall, Gunn Hall and Becker Library.

Each station included pens and colorful note cards that students, faculty and staff could use to write a message of appreciation to someone in the school community. Notes could be either anonymous or signed. Members of the kindness committee distributed the notes across The Hill to Upper School recipients. The Upper School tri-fold boards were designed by Katherine Wilkey, a 12th grade boarding student. Middle School students posted their notes to a large tri-fold board in the lobby of Gunn Hall.

 

Later in the week, Middle School Spartans also “chalked the walk” by sharing inspirational messages along school walkways in brightly colored sidewalk chalk. Members of Middle School Student Government, led by President Evy Langdon, were instrumental in implementing and supporting these activities.

 

Kindness is our school’s “theme” for the academic year. The yearlong school theme initiative was introduced in 2014 in an effort to focus our school community on a common positive goal. In addition to dedicated theme weeks and activities, such as this year’s Kindness Week, members of the theme committee present theme-focused Chapel talks and host special guest speakers on campus throughout the year. To date, yearlong themes have included Peace (2014–15), Respect (2015–16), Beyond Tolerance (2016-17), Listen (2017–18), Welcome (2018–19) and Kindness (2019–20).

 

This year’s kindness committee members are Michelle Andrews, Beck Arnow, Cynthia Bartek, Kathy Coe, Jim Crosby, John Dugan, Todd FitzGerald, Billal Lyzzaik, Jordan Mendelson, Jessica Shi, Claire Simmonds, Sarah Todd, Katherine Wilkey, Edbert Wu and Yixuan Zhou.

 

Many thanks to everyone who participated in this uplifting program, which spread good cheer across campus throughout the week.