On Wednesday this past week many students across the nation decided to walk out of class for 17 minutes on the one-month anniversary of 17 people being murdered at Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland, Fla., by a deranged misanthrope. The walkouts were controversial.
Critics said it only focused on one dubious solution (more gun control), as if we’ve all come to a consensus as a society about how to stop these atrocious acts (We haven’t).
Proponents of the walkouts said it was simply youth speaking truth to power. In other words, because adults were not enacting the obvious solution (in their viewpoint) – gun control – they were going to organize some national protests to attempt to provoke lawmakers to act.
Students in Rochelle took a unique tack altogether, as you may have heard about. They didn’t walk out, and they also didn’t stage a counter-protest, or ignore the one-month anniversary altogether, which were the three obvious options every school across the nation had this past week.
No, students at RTHS did their own thing entirely: They devoted an entire week to The Week of Us.
Rochelle high school senior and co-organizer Teddi Hacaga explains:
“We had a week filled with activities that would not only recognize the 17 innocent lives that were lost, but also a way to bring the student body together, and show unity.”

Each day of the week was devoted to one specific act. Monday they put positive post-it notes on student lockers, Tuesday they handed out bracelets, Wednesday they recognized the 17 people murdered in Parkland, Thursday they made posters, and Friday they all wore purple to show Hub pride.
But the most intriguing and outside-the-box idea they had was this: Throughout the week, every day, students were encouraged to individually reach out to RTHS strangers whom they didn’t really know that well.
According to fellow organizer Serena Abdallah, this idea was a hit:
“It was really cool to see all the bright faces, when you just go up to someone and say ‘hi, how are you?’ It could possibly change someone’s life around. We don’t see what happens behind closed doors. Something like that could easily change how someone views someone, and it could just make their day better. It was just cool to interact with different people...Kindness is everywhere. We can easily spread it amongst one another, just by having the will and the encouragement to do it.”
Such a simple thing, spreading kindness.
It’s easy for many of us to look back at our high school years as ephemeral blips in our lives. Once you hit your 40s it can seem like a distant memory. When you’re actually in high school though, your peers can seem like your entire world. Who are you buds (or who’s in your squad, as the kids say these days)? Who are your adversaries? Do you even have friends or enemies? Those that have neither are likely off the radar of everyone else, and that can often lead to feelings of severe isolation and depression that can carry over into adulthood. And that isolation can be self-perpetuating. If (you think that) no one likes you, why bother interacting with anyone else? And that lack of interaction leads your peers to not even realize that you do actually exist. And you become invisible.
The students at Rochelle Township High School reminded us of something this week that it’s too easy to forget, and you don’t need to still be in high school to appreciate. Just as there are few things worse than feeling alone or left out, there are few things better than feeling acknowledged, and feeling like you belong, especially with your peers.
It’s not easy to reach out. You might get rejected. You might get mocked or made fun of. But you also might have that kindness reciprocated, and maybe that kindness gets spread around.
Will reaching out to people you don’t normally hang out with stop the next mass shooter from deciding to murder innocent fellow human beings? God only knows. But it’s difficult to see how spreading kindness and promoting unity is ever a bad thing.
RTHS marched to the beat of their own drum this week, and they should all be saluted for it. Go Hubs.

Mike Koolidge lives in Rochelle and hosts the regionally syndicated radio program The Michael Koolidge Show (www.koolidge.com) heard daily on thirteen radio stations statewide, including Rockford’s 1440 WROK from 9 to 11 a.m.  live every weekday morning. Public officials and citizens can reach the show anytime at radio@koolidge.com or 815-561-7130.