Alternative To National Walkout Day Offers Powerful Platform

While some schools and students in the Capital Region and throughout the country planned to participate in the National School Walkout movement today, others had a different plan.  I saw a few social media posts with a unique twist that caught my attention and after exploring it further, I noticed that some schools (and people promoting kindness on various social media platforms) were encouraging a National Walk UP Day and it's quite powerful.

Here's the message:

Walk up to the student who sits alone at lunch and invite them to sit with your group;

Walk up to the students who sits quietly in the corner of the room and sit next to them, smile and say ‘Hi’;

Walk up to the student who causes disruptions in class and ask how they are doing;

Walk up to teachers and thank them;

Walk up to someone who has an opposing view and get to know them–you may be surprised at how much you have in common.

One such school in Colorado using this platform urged their middle school students to 'find 14 students and 3 adults to walk up to and say something nice to honor those who died so tragically on February 14, 2018'

Whether it be walking up, walking out, or choosing to do nothing at all, a move towards kindness and empathy to one another is always a good path to walk.