The Be Kind movement is a campaign which has recently taken Westside and the Omaha area by storm. This month, Westside’s World Language Department was chosen to adopt the campaign, and they decided to make a video showcasing students speaking the words, “Be Kind”, in different languages.

“We collaborate[d] a lot in the department and we all thought that a video would be the [best option for us to contribute],” world language department chair Sara Percival, said. “We [liked the idea] a lot [because] a video is a good way to demonstrate how kindness is a universal language.”

Percival said that students have been able to contribute to the video in many different ways.

“We’ve had students who have sent videos in, we’ve had students who have brought friends to record themselves saying ‘be kind’,” said Percival. “We’ve [even] had some students who were a little frightened to record themselves, but wrote it out for us so that we could use it later on.”

Cameran Runge, a chair for the Be Kind campaign on Student Council, also played a large role in making the video.

“The [World Language] department reached out to us [when they first came up with the idea to make the video]. Usually [we are the ones] getting in contact with the clubs, but with the World Language Department it was more like, ‘hey, we’ve got a really cool idea, want to do this?’”

Runge said that she was very impressed with the number of students and teachers in the video, and how many different countries people come from around the school. Overall, Percival says that it’s less about the video itself, and more about the message behind it.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in the video, make it a daily practice to use kindness and make someone else’s day. The video’s good, but [in the end] it’s really the message, “Be Kind”, that’s the most important.”