In the early 1990s, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, a small non-profit, began with a simple idea: what if kindness wasn’t just something people stumbled into, but something they celebrated on purpose? The Foundation’s founders believe that everyday generosity that doesn’t make headlines deserves its own spotlight, and what began as a local experiment in positivity began rippling outward.
By the mid 1990s, the idea had grown into a full week dedicated to kindness. Schools, workplaces, and cities began adopting it, each adding things like kindness challenges, gratitude walls, surprise thank you cards, and even kindness flash mobs. The week is supposed to be a reminder that compassion is built from tiny, intentional choices.
Percussion student Sam Baker said, “Kindness is just something . . . that everyone should be sharing with people. You never know what people can be going through in their day and your random act of kindness can always lift them up and make them their day 10 times better. Examples can be just like saying ‘Oh, your fit looks great today, or you did great on that test.”
Random Acts of Kindness Week is now celebrated around the world. It’s still powered by ordinary people deciding that kindness is important and that it is worth amplifying. The movement started with a few people who believed that small acts could make a big difference.
Random Acts of Kindness week is a tradition that keeps growing. This year, Random Acts of Kindness week will be observed world-wide from February 14th to the 20th, with Random Acts of Kindness Day happening on February 17th. Ferris students will be on break from February 13th to February 17th, so during the week prior, many groups will be focusing on ways that they can spread laughter, joy, and kindness.
This month, Ferris Hope Squad is painting rocks with supportive messages and this week, for National Random Acts of Kindness, Hope Squad will break out their clips of kindness. Any student who is clipped with one of these encouraging clothes pins should secretly pass it on to another person to keep the chain going.
“The world is a dark place sometimes, and so just little things can help people a lot,” said Hope Squad member Daphne Gilstrap.
To add to the fun this week, on Thursday, February 12th, the Senior Class Council will be hosting the annual Mr. Saxon senior class fundraiser, which is, according to master-of-ceremonies Nixon Barth, “the longest running male beauty pageant this side of the Mississippi.”
In other events, according to senior Leilani Solscheid, the ceramics class will be partnering with the Allstate Foundation and TIME for kids Service Stars to spread joy with hand-made ceramic trinket dishes and magnets. About 300 of the dishes and magnets will be hidden in English classrooms around the school for students to find on February 12th. Ceramics students are creating hand-made trinket dishes and magnets to distribute as a lead-up to Random Acts of Kindness day.
Unified club hosted Cookies, Crafts, and Cocoa on February 11th, celebrating Valentine’s Day. Students gathered in the Commons to make friendship bracelets and decorate cookies.
Ferris student Jayden Adams said that sometimes students “walk the hallways and it’s just like a duty to stay silent.” Instead, Adams encourages others to make a connection: “I feel like it’s just it’s best to just go out and reach out.”
