Monday, Nov. 13 is World Kindness Day. To celebrate, Hope Squad organized an activity that all students could participate in.
Hope Squad used clothespins to spread encouraging messages to students. Students would clip clothespins on each other’s backpacks and pass them on throughout the day.
Junior Teagan Hilgendorf and Junior Karen Benitez Jaramillo were co-presidents of this event.
“We’ve had this idea since freshman year,” Jaramillo said. “We never got around to it because we never had the people to do it. This year, we expanded, so we had enough people.”
Hope Squad members volunteered to help write on the clothespins. 75-100 clothespins were traveling around Westside on the day of the event. Hope Squad implemented small leadership groups to assist in event planning and execution.
“We had a boost of motivation from Amisha, who helped run the Hope Squad last year,” Hilgendorf said. “She sent us a video talking about how at her college they had done something similar… ‘this is the idea we’ve been talking about, and you guys should do it.’”
Amisha Subedi is a current freshman at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Last year, Subedi was very involved in the Hope Squad.
“I am just so proud to have been part of something that’s growing and impacting the lives of students,” Subedi said.
Subedi’s peers from different high schools inspired the idea with clothespins.
“My friend had a clothespin from his school’s Hope Squad, and that’s where I got the idea,” Subedi said. “I sent Karen a video of the clothespin and its [message]. I thought it would be a fun activity for Westside to do.”
According to Hilgendorf and Jaramillo, student reactions were a mix of confusion and excitement.
“I feel like a lot of people were confused, but in general, I feel like people had fun,” Jaramilllo said. “It’s fun trying to go up to someone and have them not notice [the clothespin] and receive it.”
