For Immediate Release

Friday, Oct. 18, 2019

Media Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

King Philip Regional High School Students Take Part In Start With Hello Week

NORFOLK — Superintendent Paul Zinni is pleased to announce that students at King Philip Regional High School recently took part in Start With Hello Week as a way to raise awareness about social isolation and to promote a more inclusive school environment.

“Start With Hello Week was a terrific opportunity for our students to get to know each other better and to spread a lot of positive energy around the school,” said Cheryl Rowe, adviser of King Philip High School’s KP Cares community service club. “Students responded to all of the different activities that were available, and it was great to see so many smiles on everyone’s faces.”

Start With Hello is a nationwide initiative aimed at teaching students to make a difference with their peers in simple, fun and impactful ways to promote interpersonal connection and inclusion, and to identify and help lonely students who are showing signs of social isolation. It is organized through the national non-profit organization Sandy Hook Promise. 

Start With Hello Week took place in thousands of schools across the country from Sept. 23-27.

Students were treated to a different theme each day of the week, starting with Start With Hello Day, where KP Cares students and board members of the student council walked around at lunch and sat at each table to get to know their peers. They also had surveys with them to see what types of activities students would like to see at the school and what changes could be made. 

Tuesday was Superhero Day, where two whiteboards were set up in central locations at the school so students could write down who they look up to.

Wednesday was smile day, where KP Cares students and student council board members passed out cards with a smiley face on it with the message, “I love your smile!”

Thursday was lifesaver day, where students were asked to list their life-saving activities on the whiteboards and administrators passed out Lifesaver candies to everyone as they arrived at school in the morning.

Friday was kindness rocks day, where students brought in or painted rocks during lunch with kind messages to add to the kindness rocks garden in front of the high school.

“My favorite day was smile day,” said student council adviser Barbara Snead. “Students were genuinely smiling and it was great to see them all getting into it. It was just one of the many highlights of a terrific week for students, teachers and everyone else at the school.”

About Sandy Hook Promise

Sandy Hook Promise is a School safety advocacy group that leads programs and policy initiatives to protect children from gun violence. It developed in the aftermath of the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

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