The Great Kindness Challenge is a dedicated week every year to focus on bringing positivity and joy to others. The initiative began with a group of high school students but soon turned into a global campaign. The Oak Park High School Wellness Center hosted events from Jan. 27-30 to inspire and motivate students to participate in the challenge. 

“It’s a bit uncomfortable if you’re not used to it,” Wellness Center Counselor Fatima Hernandez said. “[to] step out of your zone, compliment or do something nice for someone else. But, I think that’s the message it’s sending, a reminder to challenge yourself.”

The Kindness Sleeves took place on Wednesday and Thursday. It was the biggest event of the week, as the chalk art event had to be canceled due to the rain. 

“[Starbucks] gave us their hot coffee sleeves, we decorated them and then gave it back to them,” Hernandez said. “It’s a random act of kindness that Starbucks will do because they’ll just give [the decorated sleeves] out to whoever would like one and they get a nice little surprise from the community.” 

Hernandez shared her excitement for plans next year. 

“Now that it’s kind of put out there that the Great Kindness Challenge exists, I think it would be great for students to just collaborate with each others’ clubs or come find me so we can collaborate together and make more events, even bigger ones hopefully.”