If you’re ever feeling stressed or down, look to the Etown Kindness project for some words of encouragement! Starting Nov. 7, there will be biweekly meetings at 7 p.m. held in Nicarry Hall 228, during which all students are welcome to attend and take part in the club’s activities.
The club was founded by second-year occupational therapy major Rose Lasso in the spring of 2023. “Last year, I was a freshman and I was struggling with my mental health,” she said. “I decided to start making posters on Canva to then post on social media to bring a smile to people’s faces.”
Lasso also decided to print out the posters and hang them in the women’s restrooms, where students and staff could appreciate the words of affirmation. “I started getting messages on Instagram asking to join my club,” she said. “It wasn’t even a club yet, it was just me, so I decided I should make it into a club.”
Despite her passion, Lasso faced some difficulty in getting the club started. “Creating the club was a challenge because I was a freshman and had no idea how to even go about it,” she said. “Luckily, I had many people who were willing to answer any and all questions I had when creating my club.”
Since then, the Etown Kindness Project has already hosted several events, all with the intention of helping the attendees or others around campus. This year, the club has successfully led a few activities, including teaching members how to make vision boards, making friendship bracelets that were sold at homecoming and working with The Confetti Foundation to make birthday cards for children in the hospital to brighten their days. The club’s next meeting will bring students together for a fun Thanksgiving craft.
Last year, the club hosted a variety of other events, including making cards for nursing home residents, cancer patients and veterans as well as cards containing inspirational messages for every student, which returning students would have seen if they checked their mailbox during finals week at the end of the spring semester.
The Etown Kindness Project now has about 20 members and is advised by Associate Dean of Students for Student Success Stephanie Rankin. It’s led by Lasso as the president, along with second-year vice president Hanna Tran, second-year secretary Becca Scher and second-year treasurer Ariel Abbott.
Kaleigh Gebhardt, a first-year student and member of the club, explained that the vision board activity was her favorite so far. “My vision board focused on strength,” she said. “I wrote quotes around my paper that were motivating and made a collage of different pictures and scraps from magazines.”
Gebhardt added that she joined the club because it helps to make other people happy. “I like that the club strives to spread kindness throughout the entire Etown campus,” she said. For her, the club meetings have been “a relaxing time to talk with others, support Etown’s campus and feel good” about herself.
Scher seconded the sentiment. “I like getting to spread kindness and help people just be happy for a little bit without having to worry about their classes,” she said.
Although it was founded fairly recently, the club already boasts three awards, which include the Outstanding Engagement Award, the Outstanding Student Club award and the Center for Community and Civic Engagement 2023 Club Community Service Award.
