Red Tide Goes Yellow to Promote Kindness

Three+students+pose+amidst+Yellow+Ribbon+Week+festivities.+%28Photo+by+McKinley+Pieper%29

Three students pose amidst Yellow Ribbon Week festivities. (Photo by McKinley Pieper)

Yellow Ribbon Week, a beloved tradition put on by Be The Change (BTC), is a week celebrated by Sea Kings full of kindness and compassion for their peers.  

This week is a time for students to recognize suicide prevention month of teens and to show appreciation for fellow classmates and teachers.

This gave Sea Kings the opportunity to reevaluate how they interact or speak to their peers.

“You never know what a person is dealing with internally and a positive way to live is to treat people the way you would want to be treated,” Senior Sydney Sharp said.

Monday morning, as students walked over to their lockers, they were greeted by inspirational post-it note messages written on the lockers as a reminder to participate in the week celebration through acts of kindness.

“This reminds us to share kindness on a daily basis,” Sharp said.

At nutrition time, BTC members set up a station with yellow paper and pens for students to write their names on the kindness chain, a symbol of our unity at PV High.  

“I think it also starts a chain reaction of love and positivity that does not just spread to the school but to students, friends, and family outside of PV High,” Sharp said.

On Tuesday, students gathered in Sea King Park to create kindness grams to send to friends.

They were also welcomed by free temporary smiley face tattoos.

“Kindness grams were a sweet idea for students to let their friends know how much they mean to them and how special they are to be apart of their lives,” Freshman Eleni Delucie said.

Wednesday was celebrated by Sea Kings dressed in yellow, a testament to the importance of the week.  A break from the stress of school work, students made yellow kindness bracelets for one another during lunch.

The chalk walk on Thursday gave students the chance to express their emotions and to write words of encouragement for their peers to gaze down at with happiness and smiles.

Yellow Ribbon Week concluded on Friday with a kindness carnival commemorated with a multitude of activities to participate in. Some favorites included Jenga, spike ball, corn hole, ladder ball toss, etc.

Throughout the day, BTC passed out yellow roses to students passing by in the hallways. Moreover, students passed their roses on to their friends to provide an example of showing compassion.

“I think we need reminders to treat each other with respect and kindness on a daily basis,” BTC Adviser Karen Kostrencich said.

“I believe PV is a kind campus, but we should continue to strive to be better because we are not perfect. I think events like Yellow Ribbon Week help to promote PV High being the best it can be.”