Ohio Wesleyan RAKtivists
Students Plan Random Acts of Kindness Celebration
Julia Stone ’16 calls it a life philosophy: being kind in simple ways to better the community around you.
So when the English and French major from Oxford, Ohio, learned February 14-20 was Random Acts of Kindness Week, she decided to collaborate with friend Camille Mullins-Lemieux ’16 of Chicago to bring the celebration to Ohio Wesleyan.
In researching the movement, Stone says, “I learned that a RAKtivist (Random Acts of Kindness activist) is anyone who believes that kindness can change the world.
“As RAKtivists,” she continues, “our goal is to spread kindness, love and appreciation. We hope to set off a chain of caring and kind acts between friends as well as strangers.”
Stone, a member of OWU’s Citizens of the World House, and Mullins-Lemieux, a member of the House of Peace and Justice, are holding the OWU celebration as a house project for their respective small living units (SLUs). At Ohio Wesleyan, SLUs are living and learning communities of students who share common interests, such as global understanding or social justice.
“Our house project will consist of tabling in Hamilton-Williams Campus Center on February 18 and 19 during the lunch hour,” Stone says. “We are going to cut slips of paper for students to write on about their random acts of kindness experiences – when someone was randomly kind to them or when they were randomly kind to someone else.
“Or, students can choose to write a compliment on their slip of paper for a stranger to find. Every student will decide where to leave their nice note, perhaps tying it to a tree, tucking it inside a random library book, or leaving it on a restaurant table.”
Stone hopes the celebration resonates with the campus and becomes an annual – if not daily – OWU occurrence. “I believe the world would be a better place if we all started each day by hoping to make someone else’s day,” she says.