Manitou Springs High School’s student council is putting together a Kindness Week for students and staff from November 13, 2021 to November 19, 2021.

Kindness Week is to promote a better environment for not only Manitou students but also for organizations like the Humane Society. The student-led week shows underclassmen how to act in everyday life and how to be more kind to the school and classmates.

“The purpose of Kindness Week is to give students an opportunity to make connections across the student body, and also bring awareness to some of the really awesome clubs that we have on campus,” Alice Stoneback, teacher, and StuCo leader, said. “So bringing together other clubs [to] show kindness to each other, to animals, to the environment, [and essentially] everything.”

As Stoneback said, Ryder Ballard (12), student-leader of the Manitou Performing Arts Club, figures that kindness is an essential part of everyday life.

“Kindness is important in general. Whether or not you like somebody, you should still be kind to them because there’s a difference between kindness and being respectful. At least in my perspective,” Ballard said. “I think the school is super kind but we can always use more,” said Ballard.

During the 2019-2020 school year, MSHS encountered the Westboro Baptist Church. The hate group protested the school for its inclusive culture. The student responded by greeting protestors in the parking lot with posters and flags to express love and kindness.

“When Westboro Baptist Church decided to protest our school, we decided to show kindness back instead of hate, which was successful and everybody liked it,” Gideon Aigner (12), Student Body Vice President, said. “Let’s try to bring that back, so Kindness Week is us trying to encourage kindness back into our community, into the people around us, and into the whole school. We are just trying to encourage kindness throughout Manitou.”

During Kindness Week, StuCo and other clubs have planned many events. The kick-off is a dance on Saturday, November 13, 2021.

“One of our activities for Environmental Club [is] a thrift shop, [which focuses on] being kind to the earth, ” Macey LaSarre (12) said. According to student leaders, the purpose of the week is just to celebrate kindness through different inclusive activities.

Student leaders hope that this week will show all students at MSHS what it means to be kind to others and grow as a community; and they hope everyone will participate.

“I remember back when I was a freshman, and I didn’t participate in anything. I was absolutely miserable; and then when I actually started to participate in the dress up days and go to games and dances, that’s when I started to get more involved with the school and have a lot more fun with everything. And that’s how I became who I am now,” Aigner said.