From sports to fine arts, Yutan offers a variety of activities for its students. New this year is the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Club, founded by eighth-grader Kaleb Fenner.
Fenner originally came up with the idea during his seventh grade year, but it only now came to fruition. His biggest motivation for starting the club was being able to make a positive impact on the students around him.
“I was thinking about how I can make a person’s day in the simplest way or in the biggest way possible,” Fenner said. “That’s how I got the idea.”
Math teacher Kassie Trevarrow agreed to sponsor the RAK Club when Fenner brought her the idea.
“I think with this club, it was a no-brainer because it’s going to give you a lot of opportunity for some kids to be involved who are maybe not in sports. This could be their club. They could really find something that they’re passionate about,” Trevarrow said. “We’ll hopefully promote things so students who are part of the club are going to realize it is awesome to be the kind people. It’s great to show gratitude.”
So far, the club has been able to do a few activities around the high school and elementary school, including writing kindness notes, doing a fundraiser and greeting elementary students.
“Making people happy makes me happy,” RAK Club member Norah Jones said. “I liked selling cookies and soda at the elementary for our Valentine’s fundraiser because I could see how happy it made the kids.”
Along with activities they’ve already done, Fenner also hopes to do a few more things around the school before the school year ends.
“Some AP days, we’re going to have trash cleanup. That’s going to help out the people [who do upkeep],” Fenner said. “I think we’re also working on something with chalking the sidewalks for the elementary.”
The club mostly consists of junior high students, but Fenner and Trevarrow were not surprised by this, recognizing that most high school students are already very busy.
“I was kind of disappointed at first that it was like, ‘Oh, we don’t have all these upper kids,’ but it’s just one more thing for (them),” Trevarrow said.
Even without the influence of current high school students, the next few years look bright for this club. Fenner believes the club will move to a student-led structure as the current members get older and new members join.
“Especially with younger kids starting to come into the high school, I think they’re really going to look up to us [in the club],” Fenner said. “I think that’s gonna make those guys want to be like us (as leaders) and step up into that.”
As the RAK club grows, Trevarrow’s biggest goal for its future is that it will inspire students to be kinder to each other.
“My goal is to grow the club and promote kindness,” Trevarrow said. “I want us to be the leaders in promoting change in how kids treat each other and standing up for others.”
