Peet spreads kindness to every corner on special day

Peet Junior High hosted their second annual kindness day on Friday, Oct 16. For the entire day, the students were dedicated to spreading kindness to the people and community around them. Focuses were on kindness to self, kindness to others, kindness to community and kindness to the world. Students packed love boxes for foster families, volunteered at the food bank, made SMACK cards for friends and family, and more. 

For seventh grader Grant Wartick, the day started off perfectly. “My favorite thing of the day was the starting assembly. In my opinion, it was the most fun while not being too overwhelming.”

The day also left a lasting impact on Wartick. “It definitely benefited me and made me believe that it is okay to accept who you are.” Wartick also said he believes that he wasn’t the only one with this reaction. “I think other kids, especially my friend, felt touched in this way as well.” 

Kindness day was a unique event for Wartick. “My first kindness day was a day like no other day I had ever experienced.”

On the other end of the spectrum, freshmen chose a unique outreach activity to participate in as a way to spread kindness to the community. The options included visiting their elementary schools, putting a message on the fence around Peet and picking up trash at the nearby skatepark.

Sam McKernan was one of the freshmen who opted to revisit their elementary school. It was a bit of a shock for her to visit the school where she had attended Kindergarten through sixth grade. “I noticed a big difference in how the school runs now and how the playground looks.”

The purpose of the visit was to spread kindness throughout the elementary, and the freshmen did this in a variety of ways. “I was someone who went outside for recess in the beginning and I was able to be with a lot of the kids there,” McKernan said. “Then I helped in the library with organizing and finding the ‘everybody’ book sections for our 1st graders.”

This wasn’t easy though. “It was a really cold day and I was outside for 35 plus minutes for recess.” This was no exaggeration. The temperature was hovering around 50, but the wind chill pushed it down to near freezing.

Overall, the visit was a huge benefit to McKernan. “I was able to see a couple of my old teachers and say ‘hi’ to them, and that pretty much made my day.” The visit also had an effect on the elementary students. In many of the schools, the elementary students hugged their new friends goodbye as they got on the buses back to Peet.