Starting Off the New Year with Kindness

Kyleigh O’Hara ‘21

Sem kicked off the beginning of the new year in a true, good, and beautiful way with “Dude. Be nice” week. With the help of enthusiastic students and teachers, Campbell Kelly, a junior at Sem, was able to run the events of the week smoothly. Each day of the week was thoughtfully planned out with different activities to promote kindness both throughout and beyond the Sem community. Each day of the week had a witty title that related to the events of the day: Make your Mark Monday, Takto a Stranger Tuesday, Smile Wide Wednesday, Thankful Thursday, and Moving Forward Friday. The goal of the week was to think about how even small actions could change people’s lives. Committing acts of kindness certainly helped students get back into the swing of things after winter break in a positive way. At the end of the week, a student from each grade and a few faculty and staff members were recognized as the kindest people of Sem. The people whose kindness made known this year were Andrew Mauriello (freshman), Hadas Rahamim (sophomore), Oliver Lew (junior), Allison Hohn (senior), Mrs. Penland and Dr. Penland (faculty), and Mr. Bussie (staff). Campbell was thrilled by the outcome of the week, as she explained, “To see kindness start out at a ripple and watch it grow into waves that rolled through the Upper School and Lower School was amazing! I loved to see the impact that the individual can have spreading a massive kindness campaign. We all smiled brighter, and our hearts grew bigger after ‘Dude. Be Nice.’ week. I am so blessed and honored to spread this message that means so much to me” (Campbell Kelly, ‘21). From sitting with new people at lunch to sending out thank you cards to all faculty and staff, “Dude. Be nice” week was indeed a success and an excellent way of promoting positive relationships in school.