Two Grand Valley students place their hand prints on the KIC mural. (Riley Trujillo)
Two Grand Valley students place their hand prints on the KIC mural.

Riley Trujillo

Kindness Is Contagious

February 5, 2018

“If you can be anything in this world, be kind.” -Pennie Dillon. During the week of  February 12th, kindness will radiate throughout the campus of Fruita Monument High by inspiring students to engage in generosity, self love, inclusion, motivation and mental health literacy. This will mark the fourth annual Kindness is Contagious week held at FMHS.

In an interview with Trigg Hayward, a leader in 2018 KIC week, he said that, “ The theme for this year’s KIC week is empowerment, so we’re really trying to focus on us as students empowering other students in order to create a trend of kindness.”   

Back in 2014, two students at FMHS were tasked with composing an anti-bullying week. In the process of brainstorming, they decided that an anti-bullying week would be ineffective. Instead they came up with “Kindness Is Contagious”, a progressive movement that focuses on inspiring kindness to improve the overall atmosphere of Fruita Monument. Throughout the past four years, Kindness Is Contagious has gained tremendous momentum on a district-wide level.  KIC Director Veniece Miller said “ KIC has actually grown to be a really big movement, made up of hundreds of District 51 high school students and it has taken root at multiple other high schools in Utah and the front range.”

This year, Kindness Is Contagious week entails day-to-day events centered around “empowerment” as well as a TEDX guest speaker named Austin Eubanks. He will tell his story on how his life has been shaped by being a victim of the Columbine School Shooting in 1999 and substance abuse. The 2018 KIC Week will challenge the student body of Fruita Monument to step slightly out of their comfort zones in order to empower individuals while improving the overall atmosphere of the school. When asked about where his passion for Kindness Is Contagious came about, Eric Hill, a leader in KIC responded, “For me, KIC Week started when I was younger. I wasn’t in a very good place so when I got to the high school and saw these people making a difference and trying to spread positivity, right away I knew I wanted to be a part of that.”

In years past, KIC Week has broadened perspectives of Fruita Monument students and created a proactive atmosphere on campus. This year KIC organizers throughout the valley have spent months planning out events for the week such as acquiring a guest speaker, preparing for community events, and purchasing shirts and bracelets. Thorough preparations on behalf of the organizers has been done to insure this year’s Kindness is Contagious Week will be more influential than ever. Student organizers for the campaign hope that this February, high schoolers across the district will be inspired to make an effort to make a difference and be kind.

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