A new kindness club takes place in the lecture hall the second Tuesday of every month to let students get to know one another, express themselves and create friendships along the way. 

Senior class project officer Semi Ojerinde created the club for all students to join. Her reasoning for creating kindness club is for people to enjoy their time without feeling obligated to attend every meeting.

“What sparked my interest to do this club was the fact that I felt like we have different clubs for community service for all these different things,” Ojerinde said. “I wanted something where [no one has to] pay [or have] any requirements.”

Last semester kindness club hosted a sock and blanket drive to help those in need of winter clothes to stay warm through the cold winter seasons. The collections were donated to Christian Community Action.

“A lot of homeless people don’t really have socks, that’s a known fact,” Ojerinde said. “It’s cold out there right now, so we wanted to make sure we collected socks and blankets for them to donate to CCA for them to have and use during this winter season because we know a lot of them don’t have the money to afford it.”

The kindness club is not an official club and is not sponsored by a teacher, but it is student led. Kindness club is not run by a president, but Ojerinde guides club during the meetings.

“We wanted these groups to be kind of independent,” Ojerinde said. “We had it to meet once a month and we lead the activities because it’s not something to be backed up.”

At the beginning of every meeting, students meet in the lecture hall for prayer before the meetings begin. After the students say a prayer, students chat with one another before the club officially starts. 

“At first, we start off with an introduction of a quote or something about kindness, and then after, we watch a video or do a kindness activity,” Ojerinde said. “After that, we have a discussion on what kindness project we want to do for that month. It could be something like Angel Tree, clothes drive or a food drive. That is how we plan our meetings. It’s just something short, sweet and simple but [also] effective.”

Friends of junior quarterback Taylen Green recommended for him to be a part of this club and to be a part of the community of sharing what it means to be kind. Even though Green is a quarterback on the football team, others go to him because of his energy and positivity.

“Always try to be positive and kind to other people even though you’re having a bad day,” Green said. “I would strongly recommend it because we only meet once a month. People, especially me being a quarterback on the football team, feed off of my energy and my positivity.”

Wanting to make the world a brighter place, senior Sophia Lam wishes the club would meet more often. She participates to show others being kind can put a smile on someone’s face.

“I like how [the club] gives high school students an opportunity to play a part and make the school community a comfortable place for everyone,” Lam said. “The fact that every small action can be rewarding [and] it doesn’t have to be something big. The smallest act can make a big difference in someone else’s life.”

For Ojerinde, kindness club is about sharing and being kind. She put this club together to help others who are going through tough situations and to be a part of a community where anyone can be themselves. This club is for those who have the hearts to make the world a better place.

“Having teachers be a part of it [too, rather] than just students [shows] the whole body of LHS is apart of this,” Ojerinde said. “It doesn’t have to be only kindness club but just joining and saying, ‘Hey, I want to be a part of this project and make a bigger impact. To me, it would be a nice change.’”