Students, teachers, and staff in School District 42 are celebrating Pink Shirt Day (Feb. 23) in support of inclusive initiatives in B.C that foster children’s healthy self-esteem
For the second year in a row, Hammond Elementary will hold an assembly to mark the day, where students and staff will share messages of kindness.
“For the days leading up to it, we are going to be collecting kindness messages submitted by staff and students,” said Megan Olynyk, vice-principal at Hammond Elementary. “We’ll draw messages out of a box, and students read the messages during morning announcements and at our assembly.”
At Kanaka Creek, students will start the day with a special assembly put on by the WITS Foundation (Walk away, Ignore, Talk it out and Seek help) before going outside to hold up signs with positive messages for people passing along Kanaka Way.
“Our classes have made pro-social signs that they will be displayed outside the school,” said Chad Raible, the principal of Kanaka Creek Elementary school. “We will have RCMP support as up to four classes display their signs for 20 minutes each.”
At Yennadon Elementary, Pink Shirt Day is part of the February-long Kindness Month. To kick things off, students were given a strip of paper where they could write or draw a message of kindness along with their name. Teachers stapled the slips together into a giant chain, which has been displayed in the school library.
Each day in February, a random act of kindness is read over the announcements, which students are encouraged to accomplish throughout the course of the day.
“February is Kindness Month at Yennadon,” said Lisa Lawrance, the principal of Yennadon Elementary. “We are planning a variety of weekly themes to promote our theme of kindness and then end with Pink Shirt Day.”
At Webster’s Corners Elementary, students have filled out a heart saying why they love Webster’s Corners, which is displayed on a wall at the entry way of the school.
“They can write a word or a short sentence,” said Ramin Mehrassa, the principal at Webster’s Corners Elementary. “Then once all students and staff have had a chance to share, we put the hearts on the big board by the foyer for the month to celebrate.”
At Fairview Elementary, students will participate in a buddy-reading while at Alouette Elementary students will wear pink and join in a Zoom assembly.