Photo Courtesy of Madisyn Morrow
Attention Students! Have you been looking for a way to #getkind on your campus? Random Acts can give you all the tools you need to start your own Random Acts Student Group! We are always on the lookout for ways to help folks get involved in their own communities, and to provide them with the tools to do so. College is a time when many students are on their own for the first time, and we know that sometimes the best way to make friends is to #getkind together. Want to see how easy it is? We sat down with Student Group President Madisyn Morrow and chatted about the group she started at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls to hear firsthand how rewarding it can be!
Small Acts, Big Impact
Leading the first-ever student group meant that Madisyn and her Random Acts sponsor, Director of Operations Jennifer Willis-Rivera, had to create some ground rules and by-laws first. But Madisyn was pumped. “I said, I definitely love Random Acts — I would be really interested in doing that!” she recalls. She even had a friend volunteer to be her Vice President, and they were off to the races!
Image courtesy of Madisyn Morrow.
Like many groups on campus at the beginning of the school year, they had a bundle of students sign up initially, but now have a core group of around ten students. They meet every other Tuesday where they perform acts of kindness. When we spoke with Madisyn in October, the group had recently written letters to veterans, and were gearing up for what she called “Reverse Trick or Treating”. “We are going to the dorms, knocking on the doors, and giving them candy,” she said. Can you imagine being in the middle of studying when a knock at your door surprises you with a treat? Talk about a neat act of kindness!
They have big plans for the future as well. They plan on hosting a day of “Kindness Stations” on campus, where students can do several crafts that inspire positivity. There will be many stations, including a place to paint rocks with positive messages (that can be placed around campus), make “Gratitude Turkeys” by tracing their hands and adding messages of thankfulness, and create festive door decorations for their dorms.
So who gets to come up with these neat ideas? The process is collaborative, with many of the kindness acts inspired within the group themselves. However, they can always lean on their sponsor Jennifer and the Random Acts team to lend a helping hand when needed.
Fun and Fulfilling
Overall, Madisyn says the experience has been “…a load of fun! What motivates me is seeing how happy and grateful people are. Ultimately, I think if you have good people on your team and good people in your student org, you will be successful.”
Image courtesy of Madisyn Morrow.
We can relate — seeing folks happy from acts of kindness is what keeps us motivated as well. To that end, we would love to help other Random Acts student groups #getkind across the world. To get started, check out our toolkit put together by our Outreach Team!