Random Acts of Kindness Week

The second week of February each year has been designated as Random Acts of Kindness Week (RAK Week) by The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, an internationally recognized non-profit organization. Of course, the goal is for everyone to participate in kindness 365 days of the year, but the Foundation has designed this week, “to give those who are either not currently aware of Random Acts of Kindness or those who wish to call attention to the value of kind actions a chance to experience the joy of passing along kindness.”

Our Middle School students enthusiastically joined in this international initiative. Student leaders advocated kindness to their classmates by wearing self-designed tee-shirts with words or phrases associated with kindness, reciting inspirational quotes during lunchtime, and posing daily discussion questions.

Organized by the Middle School Leadership Club, Middle School counselor Laina Uttech and sixth-grade English teacher Brad Dunning, students and faculty were encouraged to commit their own random, personal acts of kindness throughout the week. “By committing simple, yet thoughtful acts of generosity, students exemplified one of the key tenets of our school's Common Trust - kindness. The Common Trust encourages students to relate to one another in an environment of support and mutual respect and will continue to guide us beyond this designated week of kindness,” Dunning said. These did not have to be big deeds but simple acts such as helping someone pick up dropped belongings, holding a door open, discarding a stray piece of litter in the hallway, or merely offering a welcoming smile to prospective families on a tour of the school. For each act of kindness, the student made a chain link with a description of the action. Then all the links were attached together and strung across the dining room.

We may have lost but we won big time!

After last week’s Thursday night boys’ varsity basketball game, Athletic Director Rick Johns told me, “You saw, arguably, the best game in the school’s history!"

He went on to commend the students on both benches. “They kept the game on the floor and between the lines. Both teams played their hearts out. I will only say that it is unfortunate when the behavior of an adult or two takes the focus away from the students’ hard work,” he added.

As I watched the game and witnessed the actions of a couple of parents from the opposing team, I have to tell you how proud I was of the way everyone from USM conducted themselves. Without exception, throughout all the chaos, our players, our parents and students in the stands, our coaches – all exemplified the high standards of community behavior that prevail here. Certainly no one could ask for more stellar role models for our students than our basketball coaches that night.

I also would like to thank our parents who served as the physicians for the game who so calmly and efficiently provided immediate medical attention to an injured player from the other team.

Even though the outcome of the game was not in our favor, it was clear that USM scored a win.