Starting on Monday, March 4th, The Great Kindness Challenge week was put into action. Every year at Herrin High School, it is celebrated as a sort of spirit week to keep students pushing through the week before spring break. Starting each day off strong, office worker DJ “CJ Trexler,” made sure to spread positivity by playing music after the first bell.

Starting the week was “Music Monday.” Mr. Trexler put on music in between passing periods and after school to uplift students’ Monday moods. Throughout the day, he was taking music requests from any students or teachers to hear their favorite songs while going from one class to another. The next day was “Team Up Tuesday.” Students grouped up by class to wear colors to team up with kindness towards others. Seniors wore black, Juniors wore white, Sophomores wore blue, and Freshmen wore pink.

Wednesday was “Wordy Wednesday,” where students were challenged to give a compliment to at least ten people on this day. Mr. Trexler was sure to announce to the school before the start of first hour reminding students what this day was. He also took his chance on the intercom to let all of the students know they were awesome first thing in the morning. 

Thursday was “Throw Away Thursday.” This was all of the student’s and teacher’s chance to throw away clutter that had been building up since the beginning of the school year. Trash cans were laid out in all of the student’s hallways for students to clear out their lockers before spring break. Senior Cadence Schuyler agreed that this was a great chance to declutter her locker: “I’m glad I was able to get rid of a lot of stuff. It will make me feel better coming back from spring break to a clean locker.”

Herrin High School faculty and staff made sure students had their hands up high for “Fist Bump Friday.” Even Mrs. Simmons made sure to give a fist bump to each student she saw walking down the hallway, saying it was a good day to spread a positive fist bump. This was a day for everyone at HHS to spread positivity and kindness by giving others a friendly fist bump.

Overall, the Great Kindness Challenge was a great success. This showed how Herrin High School Students can come together to proudly be kind and supportive of each other. The spirit week brought all students and staff to successfully pass the Great Kindness Challenge.