District 54 staff, students engage in acts of kindness

This year, all District 54 employees have been asked to read “The Happiness Advantage” by Shawn Achor, a study of how individuals can reprogram their brains to become more positive and how that positivity spreads to fuel happiness throughout our community.

One of the tactics Achor recommends is to do one random act of kindness each day. It can be as simple as holding the door for a stranger or sending a grateful email to a colleague.

“Not only does it make you happy and make those people happy, but as soon as you start talking about it — even thinking back to some of those random acts of kindness — we immediately start to smile,” he says.

These random acts of kindness also give us the power to actually change the reality of the world around us.

Across District 54 this month, our students and staff are committing acts of kindness and changing their world.

Some of the acts of kindness are small, but no less impactful. As I tour buildings I see numerous instances of kindness.

• Armstrong had a bulletin board where staff shared what they are grateful for.

• Muir students wrote examples of acts of kindness on a white board.

• Link sixth-graders had a kindness calendar, with a different act of kindness for every day of November.

Some acts of kindness impact our community.

• District office staff adopted 133 students and three families who are struggling financially and are purchasing gifts to make their holidays a little brighter.

• Numerous schools hosted food drives for the District 54 Food Pantry.

Other acts of kindness impact people beyond District 54.

• Collins hosted a sock drive.

• Fairview packed food at Feed My Starving Children.

• Link students donated their Halloween candy to Treats for Troops.

• Hanover Highlands and Campanelli held Penny Wars to raise money for hurricane relief.

These are just a few of the many examples of our staff, our students and their families making a positive impact on the District 54 community and beyond.

In all instances, our staff are teaching the students an important lesson about serving others.

If you follow District 54 or any of our schools and teachers on social media, look for the hashtag #D54Cares for more examples of staff, students and parents supporting the community; check out this compilation of social media posts at https://storify.com/D54schools/d54cares; or ask any District 54 students you know what their school has done to make a difference.

I wrap up each of my columns by emphasizing that it is the people in the District 54 community who make a difference in the lives of our children. However, sometimes it's also the people in our schools that make a difference.

I'm grateful to work in a school district where we support each other and also embrace the community beyond the school doors.