‘Dude, be nice’ week at Normal Community

Student Council promotes acts of kindness

Jessica Dougall, Staff Reporter • May 15, 2019

Photo courtesy of Normal Community

Mr. Jason Ruyle wears an oversized gold backpack while passing out water bottles, frisbees and t-shirts to students.

Mr. Jason Ruyle could be seen wearing an over-sized gold backpack, passing out water bottles, Frisbees and t-shirts.

The lunchroom appeared cleaner.

Free popcorn coupons handed out to students and staff.

It was all because of ‘Dude, be nice’ week.

Student Council hosted ‘Dude, be nice’ week for the second year at Normal Community the week of April 22.

“The overall goal is to help spread compassion and kindness throughout the school,” said Student Council sponsor, Ms. Addie Ince, which is the national campaigns focus. “I think the underlying message is that we don’t have to buy people things or do extravagant things. I think as a society it’s just being kind, opening doors, smiling, saying hi, not talking behind someone’s back.”

The ‘Dude, be nice’ committee spent two months planning the acts of kindness that took place throughout the week.

“I went online and saw inspiration from different people that have done it before,” sophomore Parker Meyer, head of the ‘Dude, be nice’ committee, said. “We just saw what would really work at our school and what people really wanted and what our problems were here.”

Student Council’s hope was that through these acts of kindness, others will pass kindness on and do nice things for others.

Throughout the week, eight random classes were surprised with doughnuts or cupcakes, water bottles were handed out along with coupons for free ipop popcorn. For the staff, breakfast was brought in and the custodial staff were surprised with Portillo’s for dinner.

“Sometimes it can seem like a thankless job,” Zach Pacha, head custodian, said. “It’s nice to be recognized and thanked.”

Through continuing to spread kindness, Student Council hopes others will see an opportunity to make the school a better place.

“I think just keeping in mind that it’s not hard to be a nice person,” said Ince. “Something that seems very small and trivial to you may be what makes the difference for someone else to make their day better.”

Visit https://www.dudebenice.com/ to support the ‘Dude, be nice’ campaign.

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About the Contributor

Jessica Dougall, Staff Reporter

Jessica Dougall is a senior at Normal Community High School who is part of Best Buddies. She is working with the Inkspot as a staff reporter for the first time this year. I am interested in attending Illinois State University next year. A random fact about me is that I enjoy taking photos.